EU calls on Philippines, other countries to join ICC

MANILA, Philippines — The visiting European Union’s Asia Pacific chief yesterday urged the country to rejoin the International Criminal Court (ICC), as it stressed that the Philippines is not excluded from the ICC’s legal jurisdiction even if the country withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2018.

In an interview, Niclas Kvarnström, managing director for Asia and the Pacific of the European External Action Service, said the legal aspect does not exclude the Philippines from the ICC legal jurisdiction.

“I believe that the interpretation from our side of the legal aspect is that even if you left, it says specifically when you joined that, that does not exclude you,” Kvarnström said on Monday.

The EU envoy likewise urged countries to join the ICC.

“We would encourage, you know, cooperation, but it’s an organ under the UN umbrella,” he added.

The Philippines was a state party to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC, since Nov. 1, 2011, deposited a written notification of withdrawal from the Statute on March 17, 2018. The Philippines’ withdrawal from the Statute took effect on March 17, 2019.

The ICC allowed the resumption of the investigation on the thousands of extrajudicial killings and rights abuses committed during former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

But the Philippine government has said it will not cooperate in the investigation.

The Victims Participation and Reparations Section said the following potential crimes against humanity, allegedly committed in the Philippines in the context of the war on drugs, were reported: murder; attempted murder; imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty; rape and other forms of sexual violence; enforced disappearance of persons; torture and other inhumane acts.

The crimes reported were allegedly committed by the police and unidentified men usually wearing civilian clothes, bonnets, masks and who, in a number of cases, rode in tandem when committing the alleged crimes.

Challenging time

The European Union tried to hang in as the Philippines’ partner during the “challenging” time of the relations in the administration of former president Duterte, Kvarnström said.

Kvarnström referred to the EU-Philippine relations during the Duterte administration as a “challenging time for our relationship.”

“I think it’s absolutely not a secret that during the Duterte administration we did have serious disagreements on human rights and democratic processes,” Kvarnström said.

He likewise aired serious concerns over Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, human rights violations and red tagging. “No doubt about that. I think the lesson there is that we try to hang in there as a partner of the Philippines,” Kvarnström said.

“So even when the discussions are tough, we recognize that, you know, the Philippines is a very large, very important partner for us in the region, and we are trying to build a deeper partnership economically but that one is, that is also based on fundamental values that we share,” he added.

The EU and the European Parliament strongly condemned the thousands of extrajudicial killings and other serious human rights violations related to Duterte’s war on drugs.

‘Worrying’

The EU is seeing increased tensions in the region and the dramatic military buildup that is “worrying,” the visiting Asia Pacific chief of the EU said, adding that “all should be mindful” of China-Russia relations.

“We see in this neighborhood, as we do up where I come from, not just increased tensions, but a dramatic military and sort of build up,” Kvarnström stated.

“And that is worrying because in East Asia, you know, the fundamental growth of the region has depended on being at peace for some time,” he said.

He also mentioned a report that the number of submarines that are expected to be in the region is extraordinary.

“I’m not surprised to see one, one trend that is quite worrying, we think, from the European perspective, is the Chinese-Russian relationship. Given in our case that Russia is pursuing an illegal war of aggression in Europe and China in various ways is supporting that. That is one of our key demands on China that they address this,” he added.

“We should all be mindful of the long-term nature of the Chinese-Russian relationship and the reasons that the two sides have chosen to enter into that, and what it means for our respective and shared security,” he said.

He added that the Philippines stands out as one of the defenders of international law and the United Nations Charter. “And that’s something that’s very important, I think, not just for us in Europe but also when you think of your own environment here with the South China Sea, the importance of understanding UN charter, international law, UNCLOS,” Kvarnström said.

“We stand fully behind UNCLOS from European Union, including the 2016 Arbitral Award,” he concluded.