Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger announce withdrawal from ICC

Three West African States, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, have announce their withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.).

According to them, ICC is “an instrument of neo-colonialist repression in the hands of imperialism.”

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In a joint statement, the military-led West African states said that the court’s jurisdiction had “transformed into an instrument of neocolonial repression in the hands of imperialism.”

“The ICC has proven itself incapable of handling and prosecuting proven war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide, and crimes of aggression,” they wrote in a communique.

The Alliance of Sahel States (AES) has floated its own regional court and a max-security prison for terrorists.

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The ICC is a permanent international tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It is intended to complement existing national judicial systems.

The court is headquartered in The Hague, and has prosecuted some of the world’s worst crimes such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity since 2002.

Currently, 125 countries are parties to the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court.

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Countries like the US, China and Russia do not form members of the ICC due to their unratified Rome Statute.

Israel is also exempted from the court and does does not recognize ICC jurisdiction over its nationals or territory for unknown reasons.

Since its inception in 2002, the court has handled 33 cases out of which 32 were against Africans and the only exception was a Philippine.

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The process and effect of withdrawal from the Rome Statute is provided in Article 127 of the Rome Statute.

Withdrawing from the I.C.C. takes effect one year after notification is received by the UN treaty office in New York.

Burundi is the first and only country to have successfully withdraw in 2017. South Africa and Gambia also announced their intentions to leave the court in the past.