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Amnesty International on Thursday warned that Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s recent decision to deposit formal notifications of withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will paint a bleak future by denying thousands of conflict survivors their right to truth, justice, and reparations
In commenting on the gravity that this decision holds for victims of crimes against humanity, Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s regional director for West and Central Africa, stated: “Withdrawing from the ICC amounts to a headlong retreat by these governments from their international law and justice obligations. It will also further imperil civilian lives and further enshrine impunity for crimes under international law.”
The three countries form the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a mutual defense and economic confederation that seeks to reject the political influence of traditional Western powers. On September 22, 2025, the countries made headlines when they announced their decision to exit the court. In justifying this decision, a joint communique was issued, where they branded the court as a manifestation of neo-colonialism and selective justice, choosing instead to preserve their national sovereignty from what they term as Western imperialism.
On June 18, Niger became the first of the three to formally deposit its written instrument of withdrawal with the UN secretary general, in accordance with Article 127 of the Rome Statute. Six days later, Burkina Faso and Mali followed suit. Pursuant to the rules of the Rome Statute, a country’s withdrawal takes effect approximately a year after submission of the formal notification, and it will therefore officially be in effect in October 2027. Before the AES’ sudden announcement of its withdrawal in September 2025, several countries had notably voluntarily withdrawn from the international court, such as Burundi and the Philippines.
The AES, which have a complex and longstanding history with each other, are currently bound by a landscape of violence, where coordinated military actions struggle to properly address surging jihadist offensives, which has resulted in massive civilian casualties across their shared borders. The Sahel war, which has contributed to an ongoing catastrophic humanitarian crisis for the region, has resulted in multiple civilian massacres and extrajudicial killings committed by state security forces and paramilitaries with Kremlin ties.
Women and girls routinely live in a bubble of fear due to the sheer scale of gang rapes, abductions, sexual slavery, and forced marriages orchestrated by armed groups and forces who are not held accountable. Since internal judicial infrastructure has been paralyzed by the war and is unable to provide recourse to these survivors, the ICC presented a mechanism for justice in the region. The AES’ imminent withdrawal presents an uncertain future for civilians, but the coalition has expressed hope that the proposed independent Sahel Criminal Court for Human Rights in Mali brings a new era of justice.
