New Delhi : Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand on Wednesday stressed the need for stronger enforcement mechanisms in the international arena, highlighting the role of international adjudicatory institutions such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in upholding principles of territorial integrity, human rights and state sovereignty.
Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy 2026 discussion titled "Is This the Middle Power Moment?", Anand underlined the limitations of enforcing international law and emphasised the importance of supporting institutions that can help uphold fundamental global principles. "Enforcement in the international arena is a very ambiguous, if not vulnerable, concept," Anand said.
"International law has long suffered from the fact that there is no enforcement mechanism, and that's why it is so important to support the international adjudicatory institutions like the ICC, like the ICJ, because they give, to the extent that is possible, some enforcement mechanism to the principles of territorial integrity, human rights, state sovereignty, etc," she said.
Her remarks come amid renewed attention to the ICC's role and the challenges facing international judicial institutions, following the US Department of State's announcement of additional sanctions against the court. Washington said the measures were intended to defend American sovereignty and protect US citizens from what the administration described as a threat posed by the ICC.
"Under President Trump, the United States has acted decisively to defend U.S. sovereignty and U.S. citizens against the threat of the International Criminal Court (ICC)," the US Department of State said in a fact sheet. The department noted that Washington had already imposed sanctions on 17 individuals under an executive order before announcing the latest action against the institution itself.
Under the sanctions, and subject to applicable licences and exceptions, the property and interests in property of the ICC located in the United States or held by US persons are blocked and must be reported to the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The measures also prohibit transactions by US persons, or transactions within or transiting the United States, involving the property or interests of designated or otherwise blocked persons, unless exempted or authorised under applicable licences.
Against this backdrop, Anand emphasised that strengthening strategic autonomy and economic resilience must go hand in hand with upholding the values that underpin international cooperation. "We are all pragmatic in the sense that we're speaking about how do we enhance our strategic autonomy and how do we ensure that we are resilient economically in these times. But we can't forget the role that values play in this conversation," she said.
"The idea is there are fundamental principles or values that will motivate us as well," Anand added. The discussion brought together Anand, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Asia Society Global President and CEO Kevin Rudd, and former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to deliberate on the evolving international order and the role of middle powers amid changing geopolitical and economic dynamics.
The session examined whether middle powers could strengthen cooperation on security guarantees, open markets, reserve-currency regimes and rules-based institutions at a time when the US is described in the discussion's framing as turning inward and moving away from the global order it once maintained.
During the exchange, Jaishankar highlighted the growing importance of economic and financial vulnerabilities in international relations, pointing to the potential weaponisation of critical resources, financial systems and sanctions.
The discussion highlighted the challenges facing middle powers as they seek to strengthen their strategic autonomy and economic resilience while navigating an increasingly competitive international environment.