International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan requested the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber on 24 June to allow his office to resume its investigation on crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Philippines, despite a request for deferment from the Duterte government. In his 53-page request, ICC Prosecutor Khan declared that the Manila government has not shown that “it has investigated or is investigating” crimes within the ICC’s jurisdiction.
Khan requested the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I to authorize the resumption of the investigations on the Philippines, “notwithstanding the Deferral Request” of the Duterte government, and for the Court to receive further submissions from victims or their representatives “according to an expedited schedule.”
The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber authorized the ICC Prosecutor to launch a formal investigation in September 2021, covering the period from 1 July 2016 when Duterte became President until 16 March 2019 when the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute. The investigation will also cover Duterte’s time as mayor and vice mayor of Davao City since the Republic of the Philippines became part of ICC on 1 November 2011.
The ICC Prosecutor, however, suspended its probe in November 2021 after the Manila government submitted a Deferral Request to the Court.
Khan declared, “Mere preparedness or willingness to investigate or prosecute is not enough” to justify a halt to the investigations. He rejected the list of 52 cases presented by Manila’s Department of Justice as mere “administrative” and “desk reviews” of a small number of cases, and does not constitute investigative activity. “This cannot justify deferral of the ICC’s investigation,” he said.
The ICC Prosecutor also cited the Philippine Commission on Human Rights report on drug-related killings committed from 2016 to 2021 that concluded that the Manila government “failed in its obligation to respect and protect the human rights of every citizen” and “has encouraged a culture of impunity the shields perpetrators from being held to account.”
He said groups representing the victims and human rights organizations support the resumption of the Court’s investigation. “Without such an investigation, the Prosecution submits that there is a real risk that Rome Statute crimes committed in the Philippines will go un-investigated and unpunished,” Khan said.
When the ICC investigation resumes, the process will pick up where it left off, which is to seek evidence to issue arrest warrants.