Niger - September 2025

On 22 September, the military governments of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali jointly announced their immediate withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling it an ‘instrument of neo-colonial repression’. While the withdrawal will only take legal effect after one year, human rights groups warn the move significantly weakens access to justice, especially as credible domestic mechanisms for investigating atrocity crimes are lacking. The announcement follows a series of joint withdrawals by the three countries, including their coordinated exits the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in January 2025. ICC investigations into alleged war crimes in Mali are ongoing, and victims’ groups in Burkina Faso and Mali have recently filed complaints implicating national armies and foreign mercenaries in serious abuses. The three governments say they will instead pursue ‘indigenous mechanisms’ for justice, though observers say such systems do not yet exist in practice, raising concerns of rising impunity.

Sources: Bèki Takè, British Broadcasting Corporation, Human Rights Watch, United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, Radio France Internationale, International Federation for Human Rights