The United States has intensified its campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC), sanctioning additional senior staff and actively urging member states to withdraw from the Rome Statute — the 2002 treaty that created the Hague-based court to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Five countries have now announced plans to leave the institution within the past year: Venezuela, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, with Chad explicitly citing a U.S. phone call requesting it reconsider its membership, just four days before announcing its withdrawal. The exits compound an existing leadership crisis at the court, though ICC officials stressed that ongoing investigations — including those into Venezuela and the Philippines — remain legally unaffected by departures, as withdrawals are not retroactive.