Chad’s withdrawal from the ICC is now underway after the country formally began the process of leaving the International Criminal Court, becoming the fifth nation this year to announce its exit.
The West and Central African nation notified United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of the move on Monday. Chad’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement issued in N’Djamena that the decision followed an in-depth review of the court’s record since it began operating in 2002.
Chad’s withdrawal from the ICC places the country alongside Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, three Sahelian states already governed by military administrations, as well as Venezuela, which announced its own exit from the tribunal on Friday.
According to the foreign ministry, the court’s effectiveness has remained “limited and uneven” against the expectations that shaped its founding. The ministry also argued that the ICC has concentrated its work disproportionately on Africa, noting that nine of the 13 investigations it has opened since inception concern African states.
Officials pointed to the court’s custody figures to justify Chad’s withdrawal from the ICC. Chad’s statement said six of the seven people currently detained by the ICC are being prosecuted in connection with African situations, a pattern the government described as evidence of selective justice.
Despite the criticism, Chad insisted its decision was not a rejection of international justice altogether. The government said it remains committed to fighting impunity, and it urged the African Union and its member states to accelerate work on independent African judicial mechanisms for peace and accountability.
Chad’s withdrawal from the ICC comes days after a telephone call between Chadian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul and Frank Garcia, the United States deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Chad’s foreign ministry said Garcia used the Thursday call to press N’Djamena to reconsider its membership of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court.
Sabre Fadoul later told AFP that Washington’s request was not behind the decision, insisting Chad had simply fallen out of step with how the court currently operates.
The timing has nonetheless drawn scrutiny. Chad’s withdrawal from the ICC follows sustained pressure on the tribunal from the Trump administration, which is not an ICC member and has long disputed the court’s jurisdiction over American nationals. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that Washington intended to wage a campaign to weaken the court’s ability to function.
The announcement also lands amid separate allegations that Chad has played a role in the conflict raging in neighbouring Sudan. Sudan’s army and independent monitoring groups accuse N’Djamena of allowing weapons to move from the United Arab Emirates through Chadian territory to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Chad ratified the Rome Statute in 2006, formally joining the ICC after two decades of engagement with the court. Under Article 127 of the treaty, Chad’s withdrawal from the ICC will only take legal effect one year after the United Nations receives formal notice, meaning Chad remains bound by its obligations for now.
The ICC has faced a difficult month beyond the wave of departures. Member states voted on Friday to dismiss chief prosecutor Karim Khan following disputed allegations that he sexually assaulted a female staff member, claims the 56 year old categorically denies through his legal team.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger jointly announced their own exit from the ICC in a statement that branded the court an instrument of neocolonial repression. The three Sahelian governments have also pulled out of the regional bloc ECOWAS and moved closer to Russia on defence cooperation.
Chad’s withdrawal from the ICC leaves the court facing renewed questions over its authority in Africa, where it opened its earliest investigations more than two decades ago. The court’s executive body has already voiced concern that the departures of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger undermine the global pursuit of justice, and similar concerns are likely to follow Chad’s exit.
Whether Chad’s withdrawal from the ICC accelerates a wider continental retreat from the Hague based court, or whether African states instead push to build the independent judicial mechanisms N’Djamena has called for, is likely to shape debate at the African Union in the months ahead.
