Philippines to withdraw from ICC next year, says UN

NEW YORK: The United Nations said it has received official notification of the Philippines’ decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), a move that follows the tribunal’s announcement of a preliminary probe of drug suspect killings under the president.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the Office of Legal Affairs’ treaty section received a document on Saturday signed by Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano informing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of the Philippines’ decision to pull out of the ICC.

Haq said the document “constitutes a notification” under the Rome Statute that established the court and “the withdrawal shall therefore take effect for the Philippines one year after the date of receipt, i.e. on March 17, 2019”.

Last month, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced that she was opening a preliminary examination into a complaint by a Filipino lawyer of suspected extrajudicial killings under President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, which could amount to crimes against humanity.

The move angered Duterte, who announced last Wednesday that he was withdrawing the Philippine ratification of the Rome Statute “effective immediately”.

Although the Philippine Senate ratified the Rome Statute, Duterte said the treaty was never enforced in the country because it was not published in the government journal as required by law.

He cited “a concerted effort” by Bensouda and UN human rights officials “to paint me as a ruthless and heartless violator of human rights”.

More than 4,000 mostly poor drug suspects have been killed under Duterte’s drug crackdown, according to the national police, although human rights groups have reported higher death tolls.