ICC urged to investigate crimes against humanity in PH
The International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Netherlands (Photo from the ICC website)
MANILA, Philippines—Lawyers and relatives of those killed in the administration’s “war on drugs” have called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the crimes against humanity committed in the Philippines.
In submitting their fourth supplemental communication to the international tribunal, the relatives of the drug war victims, assisted by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers and the sectoral group Rise Up, has submitted the communication a day before ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda retires.
“…An investigation would definitely serve the interest of justice. In fact, it will defeat the interest of justice if the ICC will not conduct or initiate an investigation. The initiation of an independent investigation presents a unique opportunity to freely and fairly take testimony or a statement from the families of the victims and the witnesses themselves as well as to examine and collect evidence in its totality and context,” read the 4th communication.
However, the government has not taken any “genuine and effective national investigation or prosecution of crimes committed” on the war on drugs, read the communication.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is doing a review of the deaths that have resulted from the administration’s war on drugs.
The Philippine National Police (PNP ) has committed to cooperating in the review by providing documents of 61 cases. The police have promised all information needed by the DOJ but President Rodrigo Duterte said the war-on-drugs documents have national security implications.
The police then committed to documents on 52 cases.
“This lack of access to and of free flow of information is a major obstacle to any genuine investigation within the country,” read the communication.
They said it has been up to the victims’ relatives to gather all the information and proper documentation for the prosecution of perpetrators.
Former lawmaker and NUPL chair Neri Colmenares is hoping that the next President will not be a “Duterte” so that the ICC’s investigation can move forward.
After Bensouda started a preliminary examination on the alleged human rights violations committed by the Duterte administration’s intensified war on drugs, the country withdrew from the ICC.
President Duterte has also barred ICC probers from entering the country to conduct its investigation.
“We hope that the next president will cooperate with the ICC and make sure that the families of the victims get the justice they have long searched for. We are hopeful that the next president will make sure that Duterte is held accountable for his crimes,” Colmenares said.
Last year, Bensouda said, in a preliminary investigation report, there is a “reasonable basis” to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in the war on drugs initiated by the Duterte administration since it comes into office in 2016.
Bensouda’s office has conducted a preliminary examination of the situation despite Duterte’s move in 2018 to withdraw the country from the Statute creating the ICC.
Bensouda said then that the ICC still retains jurisdiction over alleged crimes that have occurred in the country when it was a State Party to the Statute from November 1, 2011, to March 16, 2019, when the withdrawal from formalized.
But Bensouda said she has not yet decided whether to move for a formal investigation due to the constraints posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bensouda will step down on June 15 and will be replaced by Karim Khan.
A lawyer for some of the victims’ families, Kristina Conti, expressed optimism about Khan taking over from Bensouda.
Being part of the investigation committee into the war crimes in Iraq, she said, “this is really his specialty and I think he will be in a great position as prosecutor of the ICC to appreciate evidence we already submitted to the court.”
Earlier, Malacañang said the ICC should stop wasting its time in investigating the Philippines.
“We call on the ICC not to waste time and resources on investigations that will not prosper as we do not recognize ICC jurisdiction over the Philippines, as well as in the face of uncontroverted proof that domestic legal and judicial processes are functioning normally in our country,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said.
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