THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — As the United States ratchets up the pressure on the International Criminal Court, sanctioning two more high-ranking staff members in recent weeks, a small but growing number of the global tribunal’s member states have announced they will quit the institution.

The recent departure of Venezuela and Chad brings the number of countries to pull out of the court in the past year to five, joining Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The surge in withdrawals comes as the ICC faces hostility from Washington and a leadership crisis after ousting its own chief prosecutor.

“Five countries so far have announced plans to withdraw from the Rome Statute, and we welcome more announcements in the future,” a spokesperson for the US State Department told The Associated Press.

The Rome Statute established the ICC in 2002 as the court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. Based in The Hague, it takes on cases when nations are unable or unwilling to prosecute crimes on their own territory.

“The ICC regrets any decision to depart from the collective effort to end impunity for the most serious international crimes,” the court’s spokesperson Oriane Maillet told the AP.

America is piling on the pressure

In July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US was launching a “sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to US sovereignty.”

Rubio said he will pressure the court’s 125 member states to withdraw from the institution, sanction organizations that work with the court and ban staff from traveling to the United States. Trump’s administration has already sanctioned a dozen ICC staff in retaliation for warrants the court has issued for top Israeli officials over the war in Gaza and investigations into US personnel in Afghanistan.

Israel has rejected the allegations.

The Central African country of Chad specifically cited the United States in its decision to withdraw. Its........

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