Rights group: Refusal to re-join ICC 'further victimizes' drug war victims, kin

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s refusal to rejoin the International Criminal Court "further victimizes" those executed in the Duterte administration's wars on drugs, on dissent, and on the Moro people, a global rights network said Thursday. 

In a statement sent to reporters Thursday evening, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines called the president's statement an "ominous sign for human rights," saying the only rationale for not being under its jurisdiction is "to shelter perpetrators from prosecution and the intention to continue committing such crimes."

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines [ICHRP] is extremely disappointed but not surprised by the new Marcos administration’s decision to keep the Philippines outside the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court [ICC],” said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy Thursday.

“This is part of the continued and ongoing state cover-up of crimes against humanity.”

ICHRP in its statement urged the ICC to "vigorously pursue" the investigation and not be stalled by continued false claims that the Philippine judicial system is functioning and can address any concerns about alleged violations of human rights.

It said that regardless of the country's membership situation, there are still grounds for the continued investigation of the Duterte administration's alleged crimes against humanity should it be green-lit later on. 

The ICC earlier gave the Philippine government and the families of drug war victims until early September to submit "observations" and reactions to the conclusions made in the court's preliminary investigation. 

In June 2021, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda reported that there were sufficient grounds for a full investigation into the crime against humanity of murder committed in connection with the country’s "war on drugs" between July 2016 and March 2019.

Philippine courts had managed to convict only two police officers for the 2017 murder of 17 year-old Kian delos Santos. This was one case of the 6,011 officially recorded up to the end of 2020.

“ICHRP has full confidence in the impartiality of the ICC. We reiterate that the ICC should vigorously pursue the full investigation of the previous Duterte administration for these alleged crimes against humanity so that, finally, justice may be served and impunity ended,” Murphy said.