Government Cites Limited Effectiveness and Alleged Selectivity, Calls for Stronger African Judicial Mechanisms.
On Monday, Chad announced the process to withdraw from the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court (ICC), arguing that the institution has shown “limited effectiveness” and has focused its activities on the Global South since it began operations in 2002.
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“As of July 27, 2026, the Government of the Republic of Chad has notified the secretary-general of the United Nations of its sovereign intention to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry stated.
Chadian diplomacy attributed the decision to a “comprehensive review” of the court’s operations and record, “whose effectiveness has been limited and inconsistent in relation to the expectations that guided its creation” and which has demonstrated “undeniable selectivity” in its activities.
Data from cases pursued by the ICC “explain the perception, widely shared by numerous states and among their public opinions, of a sustained concentration of the Court’s judicial activity in the Global South in general and on the African continent in particular,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry stated, adding that those regions of the world are “willing victims of a form of political instrumentalization of the ICC.”
Actor Mark Ruffalo posted harsh criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on X, stating that removing the International Criminal Court prosecutor does not erase war crimes. pic.twitter.com/gG3lhi73RL
— Al-Jarmaq News (@Aljarmaqnetnews) July 27, 2026
“Consequently, the Government of Chad invites the African Union and its member states to deepen their reflection on the future of an apparently biased system and accelerate the strengthening and implementation of African judicial mechanisms, with a view to the emergence of a more equitable, more balanced, more credible and more effective continental justice system,” it added.
Chadian diplomacy, however, stressed that “this irrevocable decision by Chad in no way constitutes a renunciation of the moral imperative to deliver justice to victims, but rather reflects the conviction that national judicial systems and African judicial mechanisms now have increasingly greater capacities that enable them to fully carry out this mission with dignity.”
Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno was elected by an absolute majority in the May 2024 presidential election, which marked the end of a three-year political transition.
Mahamat Deby Itno assumed power on April 20, 2021, following the death of his father, Marshal Idriss Deby Itno, in fighting with rebel groups after 30 years in power.
On July 24, Venezuela also announced its intention to denounce the Rome Statute and begin its definitive withdrawal from the ICC. In recent years, other countries that have withdrawn from the ICC include Burundi, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. Meanwhile, Russia, China, Israel, India and the United States have never been active members of the court because they did not ratify the treaty.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
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