International Criminal Court investigation in the Philippines

Last updated
Situation in the Republic of the Philippines
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The seal of the International Criminal Court
File no.ICC-01/21
Date openedJuly 15, 2021 (2021-07-15)
Incident(s) Philippine drug war
Crimes crimes against humanity:
Status of suspect

The International Criminal Court investigation in the Philippines, or the situation in the Republic of the Philippines, is an ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into alleged crimes against humanity committed during the Philippine drug war.

Contents

The Philippines announced its intention to withdraw its membership from the Rome Statute on March 14, 2018, about a month after the ICC launched a preliminary investigation into the situation in the country. The withdrawal was finalized a year later, on March 16, 2019. Since the Philippines is no longer a state party to the Rome Statute, the investigation will only cover the period when the treaty was in force in the country – between November 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019.

Background

Davao Death Squad

The Davao Death Squad (DDS), a Davao City–based vigilante group linked to Rodrigo Duterte, is estimated to have killed at least a thousand people since the 1990s. [1] According to Human Rights Watch, the group mostly targeted alleged drug dealers, petty criminals, and street children and was involved in forced disappearances, summary executions, and drug dealing. [2] [3]

Edgar Matobato, a self-confessed former member of the DDS, testified before a Philippine Senate committee that the group was taking orders from Duterte and claimed that Duterte himself, while he was still mayor of Davao City, had killed a member of the Department of Justice with an Uzi submachine gun. [4] Arturo Lascañas, a retired police officer who initially denied being a member of the group in a Senate hearing in October 2016, retracted his statement a year later, backed up Matobato's accusations, and admitted to killing 200 people as a DDS member, claiming that they "were motivated by the reward system ... when a killing is ordered and there's a price". [5] [6] [7]

Philippine drug war

The Philippine drug war was launched by the Philippine National Police (PNP) on July 1, 2016, a day after Duterte was sworn in as president. [8] According to an estimate cited by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, the campaign resulted in the deaths of around 12,000 to 30,000 individuals, and the killings reached their peak between 2016 and 2017. [9] [10] However, official government figures have varied throughout the drug war's course due to a lack of transparency and ambiguous terminology.

From his presidential campaign to the end of his presidency, President Duterte made multiple remarks to kill criminals and drug syndicates

given law enforcers "shoot-to-kill" orders for criminals and drug syndicates without the fear of getting prosecuted, saying that he would protect them and would go to jail for them. [11]

A day after the 2016 presidential election, presidential forerunner Duterte said, "I will be a dictator [...] but only against forces of evil – criminality, drugs and corruption in government", and vowed that if he failed to fulfill his promise to end crime, corruption, and drugs within the first six months of his term, he would step down from the presidency. [12] On July 1, the day after the inauguration of Duterte as president, the Philippine National Police (PNP) launched Project Double Barrel, marking the beginning of the Philippine drug war.

History

On October 13, 2016, about four months into the Philippine drug war, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda expressed her deep concern over the reports of extrajudicial killings of alleged drug dealers and users in the Philippines, saying the ICC will be "closely following developments" in the country to assess whether to open a preliminary examination if necessary. [13] The following month, on November 17, President Duterte threatened to follow Russia's lead [lower-alpha 1] by withdrawing the Philippines from the ICC, which he called "useless" in Filipino. [14] [15]

On April 27, 2017, in the 77-page document titled "The Situation of Mass Murder in the Philippines, Jude Sabio—a Filipino lawyer representing former Davao Death Squad members—requested the ICC to charge President Duterte and 11 other officials with mass murder and crimes against humanity. [16] [17]

Jurisdiction

The Philippines signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on December 28, 2000, and ratified it on August 30, 2011. The treaty came into force in the country on November 1, 2011. [18] On March 14, 2018, a month after the ICC opened a preliminary investigation into the situation in the Philippines, President Duterte said in a statement that "the Philippines is withdrawing its ratification of the Rome statute effective immediately". [19] [20] However, in accordance with article 127 (1) of the treaty, the withdrawal shall only take effect "one year after the date of receipt of the notification". [21] Two days later, on March 16, the Philippines formally notified the secretary-general of the United Nations of its decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute. [22] The country officially left the ICC one year later, on March 17, 2019. [23]

The jurisdiction of the ICC investigation in the Philippines will be limited to the period when the country was a state party to the Rome Statute, between November 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019, encompassing almost three years of Duterte's presidency, during which the Philippine drug war was at its height.

Investigation

On September 15, 2021, the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber I authorized the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to open an investigation of crimes within the court's jurisdiction in the Philippines, spanning between November 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019. [24]

Response

Philippine government

On March 13, 2018, the Philippines withdrew its membership from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). President Duterte justified the withdrawal by accusing the ICC and the United Nations of "crusading" against him and condemning the UN's "baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks" on him and his administration. [19]

In September 2021, the government of the Philippines announced that it would not cooperate with the ICC on their investigation and would bar their investigators from entering the country. [25]

Notes

  1. ↑ Russia signed the Rome Statute in 2000 but never ratified it. It later withdrew its signature in 2016 (see: States parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court#Russia).

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References

  1. ↑ Phippen, J. Weston (September 15, 2016). "A Former Hitman Says the Philippine President Once Ran a Hit Squad". The Atlantic . Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  2. ↑ You Can Die Any Time: Death Squad Killings in Mindanao (PDF). New York City: Human Rights Watch. 2009. ISBN   1-56432-448-6 . Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  3. ↑ "PHILIPPINES: Filipino journalists face brutal death squads". Taipei Times . April 4, 2005. Archived from the original on February 22, 2007. Retrieved January 11, 2023– via AsiaMedia.
  4. ↑ Luu, Chieu; Ap, Tiffany; Quiano, Kathy (September 15, 2016). "Philippines President 'ordered death squad hits while mayor,' alleged hitman claims". CNN . Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  5. ↑ McKirdy, Euan; Bernal, Buena (March 6, 2017). "Self-proclaimed death squad chief: I killed almost 200 for Duterte". CNN . Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  6. ↑ Quiano, Kathy; Westcott, Ben (February 20, 2017). "Ex-Davao Death Squad leader: Duterte ordered bombings". CNN . Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  7. ↑ Patag, Kristine Joy (June 16, 2021). "Here's why the 'Davao Death Squad' was included in the ICC 'drug war' probe". The Philippine Star . Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Command Memorandum Circular No. 16 – 2016" (PDF). Philippine National Police . National Police Commission. July 1, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  9. ↑ Simons, Margaret (January 11, 2023). "The Philippines Is Losing Its 'War on Drugs'". Foreign Policy . Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  10. ↑ Kishi, Roudabeh; Buenaventura, Tomas (November 18, 2021). The Drug War Rages on in the Philippines: New Data on the Civilian Toll, State Responsibility, and Shifting Geographies of Violence (Report). Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
  11. ↑ Peña, Kurt Dela (September 17, 2021). "'Kill, kill, kill': Duterte's words offer evidence in ICC". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  12. ↑ Gutierrez, Jason; Ap, Tiffany; Sawatzky, Rob (May 10, 2016). "Philippines' Duterte vows to be a 'dictator'". CNN . Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Philippines drug crackdown prompts warning from ICC". Associated Press . October 14, 2016. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved July 18, 2023– via The Guardian.
  14. ↑ Ranada, Pia (November 17, 2016). "Duterte threatens PH withdrawal from ICC". Rappler . Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Philippines' Duterte calls Western threats of ICC indictment hypocritical". Reuters . November 28, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  16. ↑ Domonoske, Camila (April 24, 2017). "Lawyer In Philippines Accuses President Duterte Of Crimes Against Humanity". The Two-Way. NPR . Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  17. ↑ Paddock, Richard C. (April 24, 2017). "Charge Rodrigo Duterte With Mass Murder, Lawyer Tells The Hague". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court". United Nations Treaty Collection. May 16, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  19. 1 2 "Duterte to quit ICC over drugs inquiry". BBC News . March 14, 2018. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  20. ↑ Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (March 14, 2018). "Rodrigo Duterte to pull Philippines out of international criminal court". The Guardian . Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  21. ↑ Cigaral, Ian Nicolas (March 14, 2018). "Can the Philippines leave the ICC without Senate concurrence?". The Philippine Star. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  22. ↑ "Philippines informs U.N. of ICC withdrawal, court regrets move". Reuters . March 16, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  23. ↑ Gutierrez, Jason (March 17, 2019). "Philippines Officially Leaves the International Criminal Court". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  24. ↑ Regencia, Ted (September 15, 2021). "ICC agrees to open investigation into Duterte's 'war on drugs'". Al Jazeera . Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  25. ↑ Lema, Karen; Morales, Neil Jerome (September 16, 2021). "Philippines refuses to work with ICC 'war on drugs' probe". Reuters . Retrieved July 18, 2023.
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