UN probe into drug war sought
MANILA — Human Rights Watch yesterday welcomed the conduct of preliminary examination of the International Criminal Court into the allegations linked to the Philippines’ ferocious war on drugs.
“An ICC preliminary examination is not a fullblown, on-the-ground investigation. But it’s a first step to determine a possible basis for a formal ICC investigation and sends an important signal that the severity of the alleged abuses warrants the prosecutor’s scrutiny,” HRW International Justice Program Param-Preet Singh said.
Singh called ICC’s move a “rebuke of the Philippine government’s denial and distraction seemingly designed to deflect growing evidence of extrajudicial executions that [President Rodrigo] Duterte and senior government officials have incited and instigated.”
International criminal law prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on Thursday said the initial review is to determine whether the communication of supposed of government security forces since the start of Duterte’s term in July 2016 is within the court's jurisdiction.
The examination stems from a submission by Filipino lawyer Jude Sabio last year which cited possible crimes in the court of drug-related killings in the Philippines. Sabio also asked the court to look into extrajudicial deaths in the hands of police involved in anti-drug operations.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque dismissed the ICC’s move as a “waste of the court’s time and resources.”
“His (Roque) response is just the latest example of government efforts to deny the horrific human toll of the anti-drug campaign, which has resulted in more than an estimated 12,000 deaths, the majority urban slum dwellers,” Singh reacted.
She stressed that ICC’s announcement of a preliminary examination should press United Nations members countries to call for a probe into the drug war killings.
“Indeed, the government’s unrelenting hostility to international scrutiny and accountability makes a UN-led international investigation crucial,” Singh said.
She added: “Such an investigation would send the message that UN member countries strongly support justice in the Philippines and put further pressure on the Duterte government to stop the killings and to cooperate with efforts to hold those responsible to account.”
Human rights watchdogs estimate that more than 12,000 have been killed during the course of the government’s brutal war on drugs.
But according to the latest #RealNumbersPH release, there have been 6,309 drug-related deaths from July 1, 2016 to Jan. 17, 2018. Of these cases, 2,235 were tagged as homicide cases under investigation.