PRESS RELEASE - EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

The 2026 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is collectively awarded to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its officials.

Announcing the 2026 laureate in the hemicycle on Thursday, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola declared: “The European Union is built on respect for multilateralism and international institutions. With the award of the Sakharov prize to the International Criminal Court and its officials, the European Parliament recognises the Court’s important work in upholding international law and justice.”

The International Criminal Court (ICC) investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.

The Court is a crucial actor in the global fight to end impunity, and through international criminal justice, it aims to hold those responsible accountable for their crimes and to help prevent these crimes from happening again. As a court of last resort, it seeks to complement national courts. Governed by an international treaty called the Rome Statute, the ICC is the world’s first permanent international criminal court.

The award highlights the ICC's work, including investigations, prosecutions, trials and the issuance or authorisation of arrest warrants.

The EU must protect the global mechanisms for international justice and accountability

In Parliament’s 2025 annual reports on the implementation of the common Foreign and Security Policy and on the human rights and democracy in the world, MEPs expressed their deep concern at the growing threats and the various waves of sanctions imposed since 2025 on the ICC, notably by the USA, as well as on its prosecutors, judges, staff and partners, considering these to be serious attacks on the international justice system.

MEPs have repeatedly called on the European Commission to activate the EU’s so-called ‘blocking statute’ to protect officials working at the ICC from extraterritorial attacks, and to enable it to continue its activities in complete independence. The blocking statute protects European operators, regardless of their size or sector of activity, by nullifying within the EU the effect of any foreign judicial decision based on foreign laws, also enabling them to seek compensation in court for damages caused by the extraterritorial application of foreign laws.

In the abovementioned reports, MEPs also welcome the continuation of the EU’s financial support for the ICC at a particularly difficult time for international justice.

With all EU member states being parties to the Rome Statute and therefore obliged to implement the decisions of the ICC, MEPs also emphasised that the growing disregard for international law and the politicisation of debates concerning international justice institutions constituted, in their view, an existential threat to the rules-based international order.

The President of the ICC and several judges visited European Parliament committees in 2025 and 2026 to explain to MEPs the consequences of US sanctions on their professional duties and their personal lives.

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought

Named after Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was established in 1988. It is awarded annually by Parliament to individuals or organisations in recognition of their work in one of the following areas: the defence of human and fundamental rights, in particular freedom of expression, the safeguarding of minority rights, respect for international law, the development of democracy and the defence of the rule of law.

The award ceremony for the 2026 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought will take place in December in Strasbourg, during Parliament’s plenary session.

Further information

Press release – MEPs vote on three finalists for Sakharov Prize 2026 (19.10.26)

Council Regulation of 22 November 1996 protecting against the effects of the extra-territorial application of legislation adopted by a third country, and actions based thereon or resulting therefrom (“Blocking Statute”)

Sanctions on the ICC: Joint Statement by AFET, DROI, INTA, JURI and D-US Chairs (October 2026)

Leading MEPs react to a US campaign against the International Criminal Court (16.07.26)

Global accountability mechanisms under threat: what can the EU do ? (04.05.26)

MEPs express support for the ICC and call on the EU to enact the blocking statute (17.03.26)

International justice: MEPs to meet the International Criminal Court President (14.03.25)

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