Tchad quits international criminal court citing bias

The government of Chad announced its withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In a statement released on July 27, 2026, N’Djamena justified this decision by pointing out an apparent unevenness in the jurisdiction’s approach, primarily targeting African nations.

The Government of Chad formally notified the United Nations Secretary-General, who serves as the Statute depository, its sovereign decision to leave the ICC Court, in accordance with Article 127 of the Rome Statute.

In its statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Chadian Nationals Abroad explains that this decision is ‘the culmination of a thorough examination of the functioning of the International Criminal Court since its establishment in 2002’. It argues that the court’s effectiveness remains limited and irregular compared to initial expectations.

The government also cites statistics published by the ICC, updated on May 11, 2026, to support their claim. According to these numbers, out of 125 countries party to the Rome Statute, 33 are African nations. The Court has opened 13 investigations since its inception, with a majority focusing on African countries.

The statement highlights that by this date, ‘9 of the cases currently under investigation involve African states, while only 4 are open in other regions without noticeable progress’. It also notes that out of the seven people detained by the Court, ‘6 are being pursued for situations in Africa and one is in a situation outside the continent.’

The authorities believe these statistics demonstrate ‘a perception widely shared’ of an ‘enduring concentration of the court’s judicial activity on the South globally and specifically on the African continent’, denouncing what they see as ‘an instrumentalization of the ICC for political purposes’.

In response, the Chadian government calls upon the African Union and its member states to strengthen their judicial mechanisms in order to foster ‘the emergence of a more equitable, balanced, credible and effective continental justice’ within the respect of African state sovereignty.

The Chadian capital reaffirms its ‘irreversible commitment to combating impunity for grave crimes’, believing that national courts and African judicial mechanisms now have growing capabilities to assume this mission fully.