Three West African countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger – have withdrawn their membership from the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing it selective justice as well as becoming a tool of neocolonial repression.
The trio whose governments were overthrown by military coups in recent years — said in a statement released on Monday that the court was run by a “closed circle of beneficiaries” that acted with “international impunity.”
The statement said the three countries would use internal methods to ensure peace and justice in their nations, and that they would protect human rights and fight against impunity.
Their justification for leaving reflects an opinion held by many across the continent that the ICC is preoccupied with targeting Africans. Critics of the court point out that the vast majority of the individuals indicted have been African.
Of the 33 cases the ICC has opened since its inception, 32 have been against Africans — with the one exception being Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, who was charged with crimes against humanity.
Some experts said that the three countries’ real reason for leaving might be a fear of prosecution for human rights violations.
“It may be a case of the juntas trying to minimise their potential exposure to the ICC,” said Owiso Owiso, an expert in international law. “If that’s the case, then what appears to be performative Pan-Africanism is a very convenient excuse.”
He said it could also be a case of “solidarity with a friend,” meaning Russia, which has grown closer to the Sahelian nations since their military takeovers. Moscow recently pledged support for the countries’ planned joint military force of 5,000 soldiers. (The ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir V. Putin in 2023.)
Withdrawal from the ICC takes a year to come into effect after notification is given to the United Nations secretary-general. South Africa, Gambia and Burundi have all announced their intentions to leave the court in the past, but only Burundi ended up withdrawing, in 2017.
Many of the Africans investigated by the ICC have been referred to the court by their own governments.
One such man — in a case that represented one of the ICC’s most notable successes in recent years — was from Mali. A member of an extremist group, Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, was convicted of destroying cultural heritage in the fabled city of Timbuktu in 2016. International law experts hoped the case would lead to similar prosecutions in Syria and Iraq.
The court has repeatedly come under fire, especially from the United States.
The Trump administration imposed sanctions on several of its judges after the court issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, accusing him of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
In an executive order issued in February, President Trump said that the court had “engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”
The ICC was created more than two decades ago in Italy, where 120 states adopted the Rome Statute, the legal basis for the court.
The United States never joined for fear that it would eventually try Americans.
With New York Times report
