Niger has officially communicated its decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), almost nine months after making public its intention to take this step, as confirmed by the court itself. With this move, Niamey joins the path taken by Burundi and the Philippines, which completed their withdrawal from the organization in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
An ICC spokesperson explained in statements to Europa Press that "Niger deposited its instrument of withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the ICC with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his capacity as depositary of the treaty, on June 18, 2026."
The document sent by the Nigerien authorities indicates that the decision to withdraw from the court "stems from the observation that, while the court had generated great hopes among peoples who value peace and justice, it has been misused and exploited." In accordance with the provisions of the Rome Statute, the withdrawal will be effective on June 18, 2027, that is, one year after the official notification was made.
The same spokesperson stressed that "while joining or withdrawing from a treaty is a sovereign right of States under International Law, we regret any decision to withdraw from collective efforts to end impunity for the most serious international crimes."
In this regard, he emphasized that "until the withdrawal takes effect, the withdrawing State remains fully bound by its obligations as a State Party," before stressing that "even after the withdrawal takes effect, the State remains bound by obligations arising from the period when it was a State Party."
The court's representative further added that "in the same vein, withdrawal does not affect pre-existing cooperation obligations arising from investigations or criminal proceedings that were initiated before the withdrawal took effect, nor does it prejudice in any way the continuation of the examination of any matter that was already being examined by the court before the date on which the withdrawal took effect."
The military juntas of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali made public on September 22 their intention to withdraw from the Rome Statute, considering that the court "has been transformed into an instrument of neocolonial repression" and an "example of selective justice." To date, Ouagadougou and Bamako have not registered the formal withdrawal instruments with the UN.
The joint decision was adopted during an extraordinary summit of the Justice Ministers of the three countries, who had already broken with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in September 2023 to promote the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a bloc that groups the juntas that emerged after the successive coups d'état since 2020.
Since these changes of power, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali have been distancing themselves from France, their former colonial metropolis, while strengthening their political and security ties with Russia, with the stated objective of containing the advance of jihadist groups active in the region, including the Al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates in the Sahel.