Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Chairperson Imee Marcos (Joseph B. Vidal/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Imee Marcos on Friday joined the chorus of criticisms thrown at the International Criminal Court (ICC) under the administration of her brother, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., as she called the tribunal a “caricature of international justice.”
Imee lambasted the international court, saying it fails to go after crimes committed in Western nations and only picks on “less developed countries” like the Philippines.
The ICC is investigating alleged crimes against humanity committed under the leadership of Marcos Jr.’s predecessor Rodrigo Duterte in the context of his violent war on drugs.
“The ICC’s long-standing failure to investigate Western nations for countless crimes against humanity makes the court a caricature of international justice,” Imee said in a statement.
She cited the 2003 United States-led invasion of Iraq, which was “based on non-existent weapons of mass destruction and in violation of resolutions by the United Nations.”
According to a Reuters report, the invasion was meant to topple a dictator and usher in democracy but instead plunged war-scarred Iraq into “years of upheaval and chaos.”
READ: US-led Iraq war ushered in years of chaos and conflict
“Selective justice, anyone? This month marks the 20th year of the ICC’s failure to bring those responsible to account. The West’s oft-invoked cliché about upholding an ‘international rules-based order’ is apparently a sham,” Imee said.
The senator then went on: “Picking on African nations and other ‘low-hanging fruit’ like the Philippines is easier for the ICC. The perpetual circus of putting leaders of less developed countries on trial seeks to divert the world’s attention from the crimes against humanity committed by the West.”
Imee argued that the supposed diversion promotes the “false image” of Western nations as “unimpeachable protectors of human rights.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, human rights issues are openly used as pressure points, as bargaining chips to serve Western [neocolonialist’s] intertwined political, economic, and military agenda,” she added.
Government officials in both the Marcos and Duterte administrations had repeatedly questioned the jurisdiction of the ICC over the Philippines after its withdrawal from the Rome Statute – the global treaty that created the ICC – took effect in 2019.
READ: Jurisdiction issue a ‘script, line’ to attack ICC – rights advocate
But according to Article 127 of the Rome Statute, a state party shall not be discharged from its obligations to the statute prior to its withdrawal.
The Supreme Court also ruled in the same position in 2021, saying that “withdrawing from the Rome Statute does not discharge a state party from obligations it has incurred as a member.”