Coexistent but uncoordinated: Asset freezing measures at the international criminal court and the UN security council

Abstract

Both the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the UN Security Council (UNSC) are vested with the capacity to request States to freeze individuals' assets. The two bodies are also bound to cooperate closely under the terms of their relationship agreement 'with a view to facilitating the effective discharge of their respective responsibilities'. This article examines whether this obligation extends to the UNSC coordinating its targeted sanctions regime to support the ICC in respect of the enforcement powers with which the latter is equipped. It does so by analysing eight cases where UNSC action (could) have coincided with ICC operations, with a particular focus on the (non-)parallel implementation of the two bodies' asset freezing procedures. The article demonstrates that, though the activities of the UNSC and the ICC in this sphere of their respective operations might have overlapped on a number of occasions, they have rarely been deliberately coordinated. This leads the author to conclude that close cooperation as envisaged in the relationship agreement between the two bodies is unlikely on this front.