THE HAGUE (Reuters) - More than half of the member states of the International Criminal Court on Tuesday defended the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal, in a diplomatic response to a U.S. threat of sanctions against it's employees earlier this month.


A joint statement drafted by Costa Rica and Switzerland was backed by 67 out of 123 of the ICC's members.


"As parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal court we reconfirm our unwavering support for the court as an independent and impartial judicial institution," it said.