The African Union is moving forward on what it calls a “withdrawal strategy” from the International Criminal Court.

Dozens of heads of state – some of whom have been accused of war crimes or are wanted by the International Criminal Court – quietly approved the strategy on Tuesday, the last day of the AU summit in Addis Ababa, the Voice of America, VOA, has reported.

African leaders have often accused the ICC of unfairly targeting them,pointing to the fact that of the 39 individuals indicted so far by the Hague-based court, all 39 are African.

The report noted however that there was no grand announcement of the decision at the Summit but VOA News obtained verification of the decision from two sources who are well-connected within the AU, and who identically described the motion.

In short, they said, the decision is not legally binding, but rather apolitical statement of support by the AU that if any of the court’s 34 African members chooses to withdraw from the court, the AU will support the move.

In the last year, three African nations have expressed intent to begin the lengthy and complicated withdrawal process — Burundi, Gambia and South Africa.

“The withdrawal strategy, it’s a political tool for the AU to voice the collective concerns of the African states regarding the ICC.

With the withdrawal strategy being adopted, it now motivates African states to withdraw based on their own sovereign decisions without any clash from the African Union,” said Ndubuisi Ani, a Researcher with the Institute for Security Studies based in Addis Ababa.

Ani admitted that though the strategy is yet “as vague as possible”, it is significant, especially for those who consider themselves victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“The decision to withdraw is hugely very significant against the whole effort to combat human rights violations in Africa,” he said.

“Especially in view of the fact that the African court is not yet functional and the judicial systems within the respective states, not reliable.”