The European Parliament has awarded the 2026 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its officials, recognising the Hague-based tribunal’s work in investigating and prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Announcing the decision in Strasbourg on Thursday, 22 October, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said the award reflected the European Union’s commitment to multilateralism and international institutions.

Metsola praised the Court for its work in upholding international law and justice. The announcement was met with a standing ovation in the parliamentary chamber.

The decision comes amid an escalating confrontation between the European Union and the administration of US President Donald Trump over the ICC’s jurisdiction and independence.

Washington’s sanctions against the Court

On 9 October, the United States imposed sanctions on the ICC as an institution, extending measures previously directed against individual judges and prosecutors.

The restrictions place the Court under the US Treasury’s sanctions regime, limiting financial transactions involving American individuals, businesses and institutions. Washington has issued several temporary and limited exemptions intended to allow specified operations to continue.

The measures followed earlier sanctions against senior ICC officials, including Court President Tomoko Akane, and form part of Washington’s campaign to prevent the tribunal from exercising jurisdiction over American personnel.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has argued that the ICC threatens American sovereignty by asserting authority over nationals of countries that have not accepted its founding treaty.

The Court rejected the latest restrictions, describing them as an attempt to obstruct the administration of international justice.

Established under the Rome Statute, the ICC operates independently of national governments and investigates serious international crimes where its jurisdictional requirements are satisfied.

Neither the United States nor Israel is a party to the Rome Statute.

Arrest warrants involving Russia and Israel

The dispute with Washington has intensified since the ICC issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity connected with military operations in Gaza.

Israel rejects the Court’s jurisdiction and disputes the allegations. Washington has similarly opposed the proceedings against Israeli officials.

The ICC has also pursued investigations into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In March 2023, its judges issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, over the alleged unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children.

Further warrants followed in 2024 against senior Russian military commanders and officials in connection with attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.

The proceedings demonstrate the geographical scope of the Court’s investigations, although its ability to secure arrests depends heavily on cooperation from individual states.

The ICC has no independent police force and relies on national authorities to execute its warrants.

European Parliament backs international justice

The ICC’s nomination for the Sakharov Prize was submitted by the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament.

Its selection comes as European lawmakers examine how the EU should respond to American sanctions affecting the Court and organisations supporting its activities.

The October restrictions have raised practical questions about access to banking, technology services and other infrastructure required by the tribunal.

European governments must also consider how to support an institution established through an international treaty while maintaining relations with Washington.

The Sakharov Prize carries no legal authority to reverse American sanctions or compel governments to cooperate with ICC investigations. Nevertheless, the award represents an explicit institutional endorsement of the tribunal at a time when its operations face increasing external pressure.

Other nominees and award ceremony

The ICC was selected from three finalists announced earlier this month.

The other nominees were Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu and Iranian sisters Taraneh and Romina Rahimi, whose cases have attracted international attention over political persecution and judicial proceedings.

The Sakharov Prize, established by the European Parliament in 1988, is named after Soviet physicist, dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov.

It recognises individuals and organisations defending human rights, freedom of expression and fundamental liberties. The award includes €50,000.

Previous recipients include Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai and imprisoned journalists.

In 2025, the prize was awarded jointly to Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut and Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli.

The formal presentation of the 2026 prize is scheduled for 16 December at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The award places the ICC alongside previous Sakharov laureates while drawing further attention to the unresolved dispute between Washington and European governments over international criminal jurisdiction.

L’assegnazione del Premio giornalistico Daphne Caruana Galizia 2026, in memoria della reporter maltese uccisa per i suoi lavori contro la corruzione, dimostra come, a volte, il destino sia in effetti un cinico baro. Perché il riconoscimento, istituito dal Parlamento europeo, è andato al giornalista italiano Giacomo Zandonini e alla collega olandese Maite Vermeulen per un’inchiesta pubblicata sulla piattaforma giornalistica De Correspondent. L’anomalia, però, sta nel tema trattato dal lavoro vincitore che ha come titolo Rinchiudere i migranti in una gabbia in Albania: l’Italia lo fa, i Paesi Bassi lo vogliono. Un prodotto giornalistico che è allo stesso tempo un atto d’accusa contro la volontà di sempre più Stati membri dell’Ue di rinchiudere i migranti in centri fuori dai propri confini. Un modello che lo stesso Parlamento europeo ha sposato de facto votando a favore dell’ultimo Regolamento Ue sui rimpatri.

Così, la cerimonia che si è tenuta nella sala stampa “Daphne Caruana Galizia” del Parlamento europeo a Strasburgo è diventata l’occasione per mettere l’operato delle istituzioni sotto esame fin dentro la loro ‘casa’. Emblematiche, in questo senso, le dichiarazioni della presidente del Parlamento Ue, Roberta Metsola, pubblicate sul sito dell’Eurocamera e tutte incentrate sulla necessità di difendere la libertà di stampa, ben attenta a non entrare nel merito del lavoro premiato.

A farlo ci hanno pensato gli autori dell’inchiesta che alla stampa hanno dichiarato come la diffusione degli accordi con Paesi terzi per trasferire migranti comporti “rischi per i diritti umani, costi elevati e pochi risultati“: “È diventata quasi una prassi, tra i governi europei, cercare di creare strutture di questo tipo in Paesi terzi – ha dichiarato Vermeulen ricordando che anche il governo olandese sta trattando con il Rwanda – Spero davvero che questo premio e la nostra inchiesta possano servire da monito per i governi europei che stanno accelerando la stipula di tali accordi, mostrando cosa comportino concretamente. Non ho mai visto un accordo con un Paese extra-Ue in cui i diritti umani siano stati adeguatamente tutelati. Peraltro, si tratta di soluzioni estremamente costose che, alla fine, non risolvono nulla“.

Chissà cosa penserà Metsola di queste dichiarazioni, dato che la Plenaria ha approvato, il 17 giugno scorso, il nuovo Regolamento Ue sui rimpatri. Al suo interno, tra le altre cose, si legge che sarà possibile “l’allontanamento verso territori extra-UE, inclusi i cosiddetti ‘centri di rimpatrio‘, possibile sulla base di un accordo”. In poche parole, il Protocollo Italia-Albania oggetto dell’inchiesta è già da mesi un modello di riferimento per le istituzioni Ue e per tutti gli Stati membri.

A premiare il lavoro dei due reporter è stata una giuria indipendente, composta da giornalisti provenienti da tutti i Paesi europei, che ha selezionato dieci finalisti tra le 344 candidature pervenute prima di decretare il vincitore. L’inchiesta è stata pubblicata a gennaio, frutto di un lavoro di ricerca durato quasi due anni. Il focus del lavoro, ha poi spiegato Zandonini, era quello di rendere comprensibile il reale funzionamento dell’accordo Albania-Italia, mostrandone così le criticità, e questo ha richiesto l’analisi di numerosi documenti ufficiali. A questo punto è emersa la scarsa trasparenza delle istituzioni nei confronti della stampa: “Lo scoglio più grande è stato accedere alle informazioni”, confessa, dato che le richieste presentate al governo, al ministero dell’Interno e alle prefetture hanno ottenuto pochi riscontri. Dai Paesi Bassi sono arrivati 70 documenti, tra cui email su incontri, valutazioni e scambi relativi all’intesa tra Italia e Albania. “Dal punto di vista italiano c’è stata paradossalmente molta meno trasparenza, sia sui dati finanziari sia sulle condizioni e il numero e le situazioni delle persone trattenute nei centri”, continua. I giornalisti non hanno ottenuto l’autorizzazione a entrare nei centri e i governi italiano e albanese hanno anche rifiutato di rilasciare dichiarazioni o commentare i dati raccolti. Un modus operandi che, però, l’Ue ha deciso di elevare a modello.

X: @GianniRosini

L'articolo L’Ue assegna il premio Caruana Galizia a un’inchiesta sulla violazione dei diritti umani nell’accordo Italia-Albania. Ma l’Europa lo considera un modello proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Patricia Teitelbaum, President of the International Movement for Peace and Coexistence, opened the third-anniversary commemoration of the 7th October 2023 Hamas massacre by welcoming guests to an exhibition named Memory, Dignity and the Duty to Prevent.

Held in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 7th October, it was co-organised by IMPAC and the American Jewish Committee’s Transatlantic Institute, and hosted by Hildegard Bentele, the German EPP MEP who chairs the Parliament’s delegation for relations with Israel. Over 200 were present, including at least 55 MEPs.

Photographs by Israeli Ziv Koren lined the gallery. Sculptures by the Gaza-border blacksmith Yaron Bob, forged from rocket metal, stood among them. Teitelbaum said the gathering was meant to restore dignity stripped from the victims and to commit those present to preventing a repetition. “Our common duty to prevent, to combat extremism and radicalisation, that would be a noble way to honour those who were murdered.”

Benedetta Buttiglione, director of the AJC in Brussels, thanked former hostage Omri Miran for being in the room, and called Bob’s rockets-into-roses a refusal to let destruction have the last word. Memory, she said, because the dead would not be forgotten; dignity, because every victim was a human being and not a statistic; and a duty to prevent, because remembrance meant taking responsibility.

Sarah Mordekhay, from the Eshkol region on the Gaza envelope, then lit candles in memory of some of the victims she knew, such as Bernard Cowan from kibbutz Sufa. She described 7th October as the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Shoah, but this time in their homeland: entire families wiped out, “not for what they did, but for who they were.” Never again, she said, meant no justification for terrorism and no tolerance for antisemitism.

Bentele, as host, recalled that more than 1,200 people were murdered that day, including citizens of EU member states, and that 44 EU citizens were among those taken hostage. Some survivors, she said, later took their own lives because the suffering was unbearable. She turned to Miran, who spent 738 days in Hamas captivity, and called his journey from Israel to Strasbourg an act of courage. “Remembrance is our responsibility,” she said. 

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola spoke next and began with an apology. Two days earlier, French MEP Rima Hassan of La France Insoumise had visited the exhibition and thrown down the Israel flag, causing the EU flag to fall as well. Witnesses said she stepped over the European flag and made no attempt to pick it up.

Addressing Miran, she said she felt she must apologise, nonetheless. “I hope, dear Omri, you know that the actions of one person this week do not reflect the sentiment, ethos or belief of the vast, vast majority of members of this house who are as outraged as me.” The room applauded. She recalled her visit to Kfar Aza and Re’im on 13th October 2023 with the Speaker of the Knesset: the smell of death, a child’s burnt swing, and a make-up brush handed to her in a bus shelter at Re’im, which still sits on her desk.

She named the Bibas children, Ariel and Kfir, and spoke of girls who survived sexual violence in captivity only to meet sceptics. She did not confine the dead to Israel. “So many since also died in Gaza,” she said. “We are not blind to anyone’s suffering.” The way forward, she argued, had to end terror, disband Hamas and its proxies, and renew the fight against antisemitism. “The line between legitimate criticism and antisemitic narratives should be a chasm that no one crosses.”

Yaron Bob then presented Metsola with a sculpture, the Hand of Peace, a hand rising from broken ground to hold a broken olive branch. The branch was broken, he said, because the losses were terrible; the hand still held it because hope had not been given up. “My dream is that one day there will be no more rockets for me to use”, he concluded.

Israel’s ambassador to the EU and NATO, Avi Nir-Feldklein, asked who in the room had woken that morning wondering whether their country would survive the day. He thanked Metsola for speaking when others stayed silent and told Miran that an entire nation had rejoiced at his return.

Miran spoke last. Abducted from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, he described the safe room with his wife Lishay and their daughters Roni, then two, and Alma, six months old; the murder of the kibbutz security coordinator, Ilan Fiorentino; and the moment terrorists used a 17-year-old neighbour to force the family to open the door.

A rifle was pointed at Roni’s head. As he was led away, the child broke free and screamed for her father. He did not look back, afraid they would be shot. He was beaten by a mob on entering Gaza, held in 23 places, including tunnels about 30 metres underground, and filmed for propaganda. His captors, he said, told him they would repeat 7th October “until the last Jew had either left or been slaughtered.”

Asked whether Gaza’s losses had changed their minds, they answered that 50,000 babies had been born that year: “50,000 new martyrs.” Pressure on Israel, and what he called a false symmetry between Hamas and Hezbollah and Israeli self-defence, had been read by those captors as encouragement, not as a call for peace.

Hildegard Bentele, the host MEP, had already given the day’s answer to the flag incident, writing on the evening it happened: “Knocking down the EU and Israeli flags at our commemoration exhibition does nothing to ease that suffering. We should come together to honour the victims and work to ensure such atrocities never happen again. Remembrance deserves respect.”