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Caracas exits ICC
Venezuela notified the United Nations that it will withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), with Foreign Minister Félix Plasencia saying the decision was made on the orders of acting President Delcy Rodríguez.
“The government of Venezuela has informed the United Nations that it will withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), citing what it calls the body’s “bias” against countries in the Global South”
Plasencia said Venezuela informed UN Secretary-General António Guterres of its “firm and irrevocable” decision to denounce the Rome Statute and begin its definitive withdrawal from the ICC.
The announcement came as the ICC investigates ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro's government for alleged crimes against humanity, a case Caracas rejects.
The ICC announced in 2021 that it would probe possible crimes against humanity committed by Venezuelan authorities during a crackdown on anti-government protests in 2017, and Venezuela’s National Assembly voted in December to cancel its commitments to the Rome Statute.
Bias claims and ICC reply
Venezuela framed its withdrawal as a response to “geographical bias,” with Plasencia saying the ICC’s work had “disproportionately concentrated its work on African and Latin American countries.”
In a statement posted on X, Plasencia said the pattern reveals an international justice system that is “instrumentalised to deepen inequalities among peoples and disregard their right to self-determination and sovereignty.”
The ICC, however, said the resignation would not take effect immediately and that Venezuela must continue to cooperate for another year under Article 127 of the Rome Statute.
Noticias Venevisión reported that the Hague-based tribunal said Venezuela’s withdrawal “will not take effect immediately” and that the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor would keep investigations active from The Hague.
What remains at stake
The withdrawal process is being conducted under Article 127 of the Rome Statute, which the ICC said means Venezuela remains a state party during the one-year period after formal notification.
“BUENOS AIRES, July 25 (Bernama-dpa) -- Venezuela notified the United Nations on Friday that it will withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), reported German news agency dpa”
Euronews reported that “withdrawal is not immediate” and that under Article 127 it takes effect only one year after the UN receives the official notification, while the open investigation into alleged crimes against humanity continues.
EFE said the Venezuelan Parliament unanimously approved a law repealing the country’s accession to the Rome Statute in December, after the ICC Prosecutor’s Office announced the closure of its technical office in Caracas on December 1.
Euronews also reported that the ICC Prosecutor’s Office said no meaningful progress had been made on complementarity, and that with the Friday announcement cooperation would officially end in one year unless the situation evolved.
