By Joan Mutonga
ICJ Kenya welcomes the preliminary report issued by the outgoing International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. Ms. Bensouda has sought authorization for judicial investigation indicating that, “there is reasonable basis to believe that the crime against humanity of murder has been committed on the territory of the Philippines between 1 July 2016 and 16 March 2019 in the context of the Government of Philippines “war on drugs” campaign.”
Rodrigo Duterte launched his campaign after his election in 2016. In 2017, 7,080 people were reportedly killed during the first seven months of his presidency with 2,555 of the people killed in police operations, while unknown suspects killed 3,603 others.
The ICC initiated a preliminary examination into the situation in the Philippines on 8 February 2018. Following the filing of numerous complaints and reports on the rights violations characterized by the state-initiated drug campaign, the Philippines officially withdrew from the ICC in 2019.
Withdrawing from the Rome statute does not restrict the ICC to exercise its jurisdiction over crimes that are alleged to have occurred during the period when Philippines was a state party to the Rome Statute. Once the ICC authorizes the investigation, the newly appointed ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, will have the responsibility to conduct investigations into the situation.
The investigation into the Philippines ‘war on drugs’ killings comes at a time when the ICC is overburdened with ongoing investigations in Sudan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic amongst others. It is also a time when the Court of last resort is decrying of inadequate finances to fund its operations further to the understaffing challenges. Cognizant of the existing challenges the Outgoing Prosecutor stated that, “the ICC Office will take a number of measures to collect and preserve evidence, in anticipation of a possible investigation, if an investigation is authorized.”
The need to end state fueled impunity and state sanctioned killings in the name of “driving reforms” needs to be put to an end and the perpetrators held accountable. The ICC’s intervention on the crimes committed in the Philippines sends a strong message to the government to end the “anti-drug war campaign” which continues to leave a trail of blood, death and sufferings.
Ms. Joanne Mutonga is a Programme Officer at the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists(ICJ Kenya).
