ICC hearing over former Philippines president a critical step toward justice, rights groups says News
King Rodriguez for the Presidential Communications Operations Office, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
ICC hearing over former Philippines president a critical step toward justice, rights groups says

The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) first major hearing in the case against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte is a critical first step toward ensuring justice for victims of his War on Drugs, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.

The pre-trial proceedings are set for February 23-27. Three judges will hear evidence and evaluate whether prosecutors pose a strong enough case to move ahead to trial on one or more of the charges.

According to HRW, Duterte’s War on Drugs “has led to the deaths of over 12,000 Filipinos to date, mostly the urban poor. Over 2,500 killings have been attributed to the Philippine National Police,” many of whom were children.

“Former President Duterte wrongly thought he was untouchable, beyond the reach of the law,” Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at HRW, said. “The ICC case reflects the determination of victims and their families to advance justice against all odds and dangers.”

The charges against Duterte are numerous and involve incidents that occurred during his time as mayor of Davao City as well as president. Of incidents prosecutors cite, nine relate to 19 murders between 2013 and 2016; five relate to 14 murders of “high-value individuals” for “their alleged involvement in drug manufacturing or drug syndicates” in 2016 and 2017; and 35 involve 45 murders and attempted murders committed during “clearance operations” across the Philippines between 2016 and 2018.

Office of the Prosecutor has called cited incidents “a non-exhaustive list of examples of the conduct underlying [each] charge,” and the 78 victims included in its charging document “are a non-exhaustive list of victims in this case.”

If prosecutors make a strong enough case, judges will send Duterte’s case to trial. All pre-trial matters will proceed according to ICC protocols and timelines.

Because the Rome Statute was withdrawn in the Philippines on March 17, 2019, ICC jurisdiction in the Philippines covers all of Duterte’s actions as an alleged “indirect co-perpetrator for the crime against humanity of murder, allegedly committed in the Philippines between 1 November 2011 and 16 March 2019.”

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