24/09/2025
3 West African Nations to Leave International Criminal Court:
The military rulers of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger said the court had become a tool of neocolonial repression. All three governments have been accused of human rights violations.
Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger — three countries in Africa’s arid Sahel region 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 I.C.C. 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.
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.
