In the ongoing international news about drug-related crimes, the Philippines president, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., has recently reiterated his refusal to cooperate with an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into the former president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs.”
This statement comes in response to the ICC’s extensive probe into Duterte’s hardline anti-drug campaign, which has reportedly resulted in over 12,000 deaths of Filipinos. It’s a complex situation, due to the country’s prior and later withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty.
The Philippines agreed to the Rome Statute in November 2011, making it a party to the international court’s jurisdiction. However, in 2018, the country formally withdrew by invoking Article 127 of the statute, and the withdrawal came into effect in May 2019. Despite this, ICC has maintained that the withdrawal would not prohibit ongoing investigations.
Marcos Jr. insists that Philippine law enforcement and investigative agencies are equipped to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the matter themselves, viewing the ICC’s investigation as an intrusion on national sovereignty. He noted that while ICC investigators could visit as “ordinary individuals,” the government would not facilitate their investigations.
The Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC initiated a preliminary examination of reported crimes in the Philippines since 2016 under the guise of Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign. This led to allegations of extrajudicial killings of individuals supposedly involved in illegal drug activities. Consequently, the Philippines chose to withdraw from the Rome Statute.
According to a 2017 ruling with regard to alleged crimes in Burundi, Pre-Trial Chamber III confirmed the ICC’s jurisdiction to preside over crimes committed during a state’s membership of the Rome Statute, despite subsequent withdrawal.
In 2021, the government of the Philippines submitted a deferral request under Article 18(2), leading to a temporary suspension of the Office of the Prosecutor’s investigation. Despite the back and forth, Manila has consistently maintained that the ICC lacks the authority to investigate the former president’s campaign against illicit drug activities.
This narrative further sketches the challenges international bodies like ICC face when dealing with a nation’s internal affairs, particularly when that nation challenges the court’s jurisdiction —a precedent set not just by the Philippines, but also by other states.
Further information can be found in the full report from Jurist.