GENEVA - The U.N. human rights office on Friday regretted the impact that U.S. sanctions authorised by President Donald Trump may have on trials and investigations under way at the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying its independence must be protected.

Trump on Thursday authorized U.S. economic and travel sanctions against employees of the Hague-based tribunal involved in an investigation into whether American forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

“The independence of the ICC and its ability to operate without interference must be guaranteed so that it can decide matters without any improper influence, inducement, pressures, threats or interference, direct or indirect, from any quarter or for any reasons,” U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a U.N. briefing in Geneva. “Victims of gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law and their families have the right to redress and the truth.”