U.S Welcomes Chad’s Withdrawal from ICC as More Countries Move Away From Court

Chad becomes fifth nation to leave global tribunal amid growing criticism from some member states…..

The United States has welcomed Chad’s decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), describing the move as a step against what it called the court’s “illegitimate overreach.”

Chad became the fifth country to announce its exit from the global tribunal, following a growing wave of withdrawals by nations that have criticised the institution’s operations.

The Central African country announced its decision on Monday, shortly after Venezuela revealed that it had begun the formal process of leaving the ICC.

The ICC had been investigating allegations of crimes against humanity linked to the previous Venezuelan government. However, like Chad and other countries that have moved to withdraw, Venezuelan authorities accused the court of unfairly targeting non-Western nations.

Earlier in July, the ICC confirmed that three military-led Sahel countries — Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — had formally started the process of withdrawing from the court. The withdrawal process is expected to take one year before becoming effective.

Niger officially submitted its withdrawal request last month.

Chad’s decision comes amid pressure from the United States for countries to reconsider their membership of the ICC.

According to a statement, Chad said its decision to leave the court followed a request from the US.

Reacting to the announcement, Washington described the ICC as a “flawed institution” and urged other member countries to follow Chad’s example.

“As @SecRubio has stated, the United States will never surrender its sovereignty to an unaccountable global tribunal, and we are launching a comprehensive, whole-of-government campaign to end the ICC’s illegitimate overreach. We call on all other ICC members to withdraw from the Rome Statute,” the US said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The ICC currently has 125 member states under the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court.

However, several major countries, including the United States, Russia, Israel, China and Myanmar, are not members of the tribunal.