Chad to join raft of withdrawals from International Criminal Court

Chad becomes the fifth country to withdraw from the ICC recently amid rising US pressure and accusations of bias.

Chad has joined a growing list of countries as it announced plans to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The military government declared on Monday that Chad had begun the process to leave the court, which prosecutes war crimes and other violations of humanitarian law and is based in The Hague in the Netherlands.

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The northern African nation is the fifth state in recent months to quit the international tribunal, as the United States continues to increase pressure on the institution.

Chad’s government said that the court’s effectiveness was “limited” and uneven and condemned what it said was a concentration of its activities on African countries.

Of the 13 investigations opened by the court since it came into force, nine concern African states, as opposed to four opened in other regions of the world “but without any concrete progress,” the government statement said.

Chad’s decision follows neighbouring Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which also have military governments. The Sahel states jointly announced their withdrawal in September, accusing the court of selective justice.

Declaration of war

As well as the claims of bias, the withdrawals come amid increasing US pressure on the international court.

Washington’s longstanding antipathy has only grown since the ICC issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in 2024.

The Trump administration now appears to have openly declared war on the institution. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the US would wage a campaign to “systematically disable” the ICC’s ability to function.

Chad was the second state to announce its withdrawal since that statement. Venezuela said on Friday that it was pulling out, also accusing the court of “bias”.

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez essentially governs the country with the nod of the US.

Chad’s Foreign Ministry shared a statement on its official website saying that the decision to quit follows a request by Washington.

It said the US deputy secretary of state for African affairs had pressed the government to reconsider its membership during a phone call on Thursday.

“The American side expressed its concerns about the functioning of this institution and called on Chad to review its accession to the Rome Statute,” the statement said.

Just days ago, former ICC prosecutor Karim Khan was dismissed over misconduct allegations. The defence team for Khan, who secured Netanyahu’s arrest warrant, insist his removal was “politicised”.

The ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute individuals for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is the first court with the authority to hold individuals criminally accountable for those crimes and member states are required to arrest anyone subject to ICC warrants.

Before the recent surge in withdrawals, only Burundi (2017) and the Philippines (2019) had pulled out of the court. Hungary, which hosted Netanyahu in April 2025, announced it was withdrawing from the ICC the day before his arrival.