Human rights advocates, families of victims and Philippine legal experts are protesting the suspension by the International Criminal Court of its investigations on alleged crimes against humanity in relation to President Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’.

The Duterte government, through its ambassador to The Netherlands, J. Eduardo Malaya, sent a letter on 10 November requesting the ICC Prosecutor, Karim A.A. Khan to defer the ongoing investigation and proceedings on the Philippines. On 18 November, Mr. Khan said that they will “temporarily suspend investigative activities to assess the Philippines’ deferral request”.

Earlier, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I granted on 15 September Mr. Khan’s request to commence an investigation “in relation to crimes allegedly committed on the territory of the Philippines between 1 November 2011 and 16 March 2019 in the context of the so-called ‘war on drugs’ campaign.” There appeared to have been a widespread and systemic attack against the civilian population and could amount to crimes against humanity, it said.

The news of the deferral was met with protests. The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, representing families of the victims, requested Mr. Khan to continue with the investigation and not to be swayed by the claims of the Duterte administration.

The lawyers said, “These domestic ‘remedies’ described by the Philippine ambassador have proven utterly ineffective in stopping wave after wave of drug-related killings, the imprisonment of thousands of poor Filipinos on questionable charges, and the commission of countless human rights violations during the anti-drug campaign.”

Human Rights Watch Asia Director Brad Adams said on 20 November, “In its letter to the ICC, the Philippine government claims that ‘drug war’ killings are being investigated. This is barely true; only 52 out of thousands of killings are in early stages of the investigation. Despite many clear-cut cases of murder, no charges have even been filed. Let’s hope the ICC sees through the ruse that it is,” said Adams.

Meanwhile, the Center for International Law, said the claim of a genuine domestic investigation into the drug war “could not be further from the truth.” The legal experts’ group said, “On the contrary, the fact that only 52 cases of the estimated 30,000 killed have been reviewed, reveals that the government’s feigned compliance with international justice is paper-thin.”

Another lawyers group representing the victims, the Free Legal Assistance Group, also wrote to Mr. Khan on 21 November to block the Manila government’s request, saying the 52 cases being investigated represent less than 0.3% of the total people killed under the ‘drug war’. They said, “The Department of Justice investigation did not include any findings or conclusions, but mere observations, largely on the lack of documents provided by the Philippine National Police… Witnesses or survivors were not interviewed; family members did not participate in the investigation. Even worse, not a single case was referred for prosecution.”