Niger Republic formally requests ICC membership withdrawal; fourth country leaving in nine months

Niger Republic has officially submitted a request to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Hague-based tribunal said on Tuesday that it received an “instrument of withdrawal” on June 18 from Niger, led by junta leader Abdourahamane Tiani.

The formal request comes nine months after Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso announced their intentions to leave the ICC.

The junta-ruled countries accused the court of becoming “a global example of selective justice”, saying they would establish “indigenous mechanisms for the consolidation of peace and justice”.

A country’s withdrawal from the court only takes effect one year after the official submission of the case to the UN general secretariat.

The ICC said Niger’s request will take effect on June 18, 2027, but noted that the West African country must honour its obligations to the court until that date.

“While joining or withdrawing from a treaty remains a sovereign right of States under international law, we regret any decision to depart from the collective effort to end impunity for the most serious international crimes,” the ICC said.

The ICC statement made no mention of Mali or Burkina Faso.

Founded in 2002, the ICCs mission is to prosecute the perpetrators of the most serious crimes, such as war crimes, when countries lack the will or capacity to do so themselves.

The ICC has 125 member states at the moment. The United States and Russia are not among them, nor are Israel, China, or Myanmar.