PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday urged other nations to follow his move to quit a treaty underpinning the International Criminal Court, which is examining his deadly drug war.
Duterte lashed out at the war crimes tribunal two days after his government officially notified the United Nations of his decision to pull the Philippines out of the Rome Statute.
“I said withdraw simply because to announce to the world and I will convince everybody now who [is] under the treaty: get out, get out. It is rude,” Duterte said in a speech before Philippine Military Academy graduates.
“It is not a document that was prepared by anybody. It’s an EU-sponsored [treaty],” he added, as he criticized the court for going after “blacks.”
The Hague-based ICC announced last month it was launching a “preliminary examination” of Duterte’s bloody anti-drug crackdown that has drawn international concern.
Duterte, 72, won elections in mid-2016 vowing to launch an unprecedented drug war in which tens of thousands of people would die.
Police say they have killed nearly 4,100 drug suspects as part of the campaign, while rights groups claim the toll is around three times the numbers given by authorities.
Opened in 2002, the ICC is the world’s only permanent war crimes court and aims to prosecute the worst abuses when national courts are unable or unwilling.
On Friday, the Philippines formally notified the UN that it was withdrawing from the ICC saying the stand was against “those who would politicize and weaponize human rights.”
The tribunal had urged Manila to reconsider its decision, with the president of its governing body saying he deeply regretted the move.
“A state party withdrawing from the Rome Statute would negatively impact our collective efforts towards fighting impunity,” said Assembly of State Parties president O-Gon Kwon.
Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said Duterte’s decision now put the country in the same boat as the United States.
“In spite of its reputation as the global champion of human rights, America has spurned the ICC. So we are now in a similar situation. The only difference is that while the US was never a party to the Rome Statute, we are a party to the treaty who has decided to quit,” Pimentel said.
“Our departure from the ICC does not make us less devoted to the protection of human rights, in the same manner that America’s snub of the tribunal does not make that country less dedicated to human rights,” Pimentel, chairman of the House good government and public accountability committee, said.
The US has opted not to ratify the Rome Statute out of concern that it might be put in a quandary once American soldiers and their commanders are investigated, prosecuted and put on trial before the ICC for purported war crimes committed while operating in foreign lands, Pimentel said.
“This is why you will never hear the White House or the US State Department passing judgment on our withdrawal from the ICC,” Pimentel said.
President Duterte enjoys the prerogative to pull the Philippines out of the ICC, Pimentel said.
“As chief executive, the President is also our lead foreign policy architect. He is in fact our chief diplomat,” Pimentel said.
Duterte, who has waged a brutal war on illegal drugs, is under investigation by the ICC for supposed crimes against humanity in connection with the alleged extrajudicial killings of thousands of drug suspects.
The Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC would reduce to 122 the number of countries that are parties to the Rome treaty and members of the permanent international tribunal founded in 2002 “to bring to justice the perpetrators of the worst crimes known to humankind—war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.”
Shortly after Duterte announced his decision to leave the ICC, Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Friday submitted Manila’s letter of withdrawal from the Rome Statute.
In its letter dated March 15, the Philippines said that its decision to withdraw from the treaty was a “principled stand against those who politicize and weaponize human rights.”
Under Article 127 of the Rome Statute, a state party may withdraw from the treaty through a written notification addressed to the UN secretary-general. The withdrawal will take effect a year after the date of receipt of the notification.
The other states that have not ratified and have not become parties to the Rome Statute include China, India, Indonesia, Israel and Sudan. AFP
