The Philippines on Thursday urged the International Criminal Court not to reopen its investigation into former President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war, insisting the tribunal lacked jurisdiction.
The appeal came on the day ICC prosecutor Karim Khan had deadline for Manila to respond to his request to reopen the investigation into the anti-drug campaign that killed thousands.
Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the Hague tribunal in 2019 after it opened a preliminary investigation into the crackdown. His successor, President Ferdinand Marcos, has ruled out re-entry.
A government statement said the alleged killings are not “crimes against humanity” and are being handled by the country’s “proper authorities”.
Last year the ICC authorized a full probe into the drug war, saying it appeared to be an illegitimate and systematic attack on civilians.
Human rights groups say Duterte created a climate of impunity that has led to an estimated tens of thousands of deaths at the hands of cops, hitmen and vigilantes, even without evidence that the victims were involved with drugs.
The ICC, which only engages in prosecutions when member states are unable or unwilling to investigate, suspended the investigation two months after Manila announced it would investigate the alleged crimes.
Under pressure from the UN Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court, the Duterte government began investigating several hundred cases of drug-related deaths.
These efforts resulted in a handful of cases being indicted and three police officers being convicted of misconduct.
Just before Duterte left office in June, Khan urged the court to reopen the investigation “as soon as possible.”
“With a handful of exceptions, the Philippine government has not provided documentation to show that investigations are ongoing or completed, nor details of specific investigative or prosecuting steps that have been taken,” Khan said.
The UN Human Rights Council is expected to discuss the Philippines at its session beginning next week, but human rights groups have warned killings in the drug war will continue under Marcos.
“Our own monitoring and reporting of the Philippines shows that the situation has not improved since that last resolution,” Lucy McKernan, deputy United Nations director at Human Rights Watch, said during an online briefing on Wednesday.
McKernan urged council members to “send a strong message” that Marcos, son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator, “has no clean slate to commit new abuses.”
