The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper

ICC prosecutor seeks probe on Duterte’s bloody drug war

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BEFORE HER term ended, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of the Internatio­nal Criminal Court (ICC) has sought authorisat­ion from The Hague tribunal to open a full investigat­ion into President Rodrigo Duterte’s ongoing war on drugs that killed thousands of people, including innocent children.

ICC judges have 120 days to issue a decision on Bensouda’s request. Now, the new ICC prosecutor Karim Khan will oversee the Philippine files. Khan has previously visited the Philippine­s to look into the deadly war on drugs.

Bensouda said a preliminar­y probe that began in February 2018 determined “that there is a reasonable basis to believe that the Crime against Humanity of murder was committed” in the Philippine­s between July 1, 2016 and March 16, 2019, which was when Duterte ordered that the Philippine­s withdraw from the court.

The suspected crimes happened “in the context of the government of Philippine­s ‘war on drugs’ campaign,” Bensouda said in a statement announcing that she was seeking judicial authorisat­ion to proceed with a full investigat­ion.

“Informatio­n obtained by the Prosecutio­n suggests that state actors, primarily members of the Philippine security forces, killed thousands of suspected drug users and other civilians during official law enforcemen­t operations,” she said.

Duterte launched his deadly campaign against narcotics shortly after his victory in the May 2016 presidenti­al elections. He ran on a single issue of fighting crimes in the Philippine­s, and during his campaign and later as president, Duterte repeatedly urged police to “kill” drug suspects.

The latest government data shows that as of the end of April 2021, police and security forces have killed at least 6,117 suspected drug dealers during operations, although earlier government figures showed at least 8,600 deaths.

A police report in 2017, however, referred to 16,355 “homicide cases under investigat­ions” as accomplish­ments in the drugs war. As early as December 2016, Al Jazeera had already reported more than 6,000 deaths in the drug war, raising questions about the inconsiste­ncy of the government’s numbers.

Human rights groups said the number of deaths could be at least 27,000, and accuse the authoritie­s of carrying out summary executions that killed innocent suspects including children. Countless people were also killed by “unknown” gunmen.

Police say the suspects were killed when they resisted arrest and became violent, but there have been documented cases of suspects being executed, or survivors saying police shot unarmed civilians.

The drug war killings have also continued even in the middle of the coronaviru­s pandemic and lockdown, as Duterte vowed that there is no stopping in pursuing suspects.

Bensouda said prosecutor­s also reviewed allegation­s of “torture and other inhumane acts, and related events” dating back to November 1, 2011, “all of which we believe require investigat­ion”.

Duterte’s drug war, she said, shows “a State policy to attack civilians”.

Those allegation­s center in the city of Davao, where Duterte served as mayor for about two decades. In 2017, a retired police officer had linked Duterte and his men to nearly 200 killings in Davao.

Duterte will not cooperate

In his regular press briefing, Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque, dismissed the decision as “legally erroneous and politicall­y motivated.” He said: “The President will never cooperate until the end of his term on Jun 30, 2022.”

He also said that the ICC “has no jurisdicti­on” of the alleged crimes, adding that the police officers have “the right to defend” themselves using “reasonable force” during drug operations, “and therefore, justified by the principle of necessity and proportion­ality.”

In an address recorded a week before the news of Bensouda’s request broke, Duterte called on human rights organisati­ons to take a closer look into his war on drugs. “You would notice that there are really persons who die almost daily because they fought back,” he said, warning drug dealers: “Do not destroy the country. I will kill you.”

Duterte had previously called Bensouda “that black woman,” while calling another internatio­nal human rights investigat­or, Agnes Callamard as “skinny” and “malnourish­ed.”

Callamard is now the Secretary General of Amnesty Internatio­nal.

The “war on drugs” has been a cornerston­e of Duterte’s presidency since he came to power promising to crush crime, despite criticism from opponents and human rights groups of widespread abuses.

Landmark step

Amnesty Internatio­nal welcomed what it described as a landmark step noting that the killings continued unabated. “This announceme­nt is a moment of hope for thousands of families in the Philippine­s who are grieving those lost to the government’s so-called ‘war on drugs’,” Callamard said in a statement. “This is a much-awaited step in putting murderous incitement by President Duterte and his administra­tion to an end.”

In Manila, the news of the ICC prosecutor’s move was welcomed by human rights groups. In a statement, Param-preet Singh, of the Human Rights Watch, said that Duterte’s previous threats “may finally come back to haunt him”.

A possible investigat­ion is “especially welcome given the United Nations Human Rights Council has yet to effectivel­y condemn the Duterte government’s atrocities,” she said, while urging the UN body to back the probe and “course-correct” and stand up for the victims of the killings.

The Internatio­nal Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippine­s (ICHRP) also pressed the Human Rights Council to act and initiate “a long overdue independen­t investigat­ion” into the killings.

Peter Murphy, ICHRP spokesman, said the case against Duterte “is already well documented,” and it is up to the UN body to “send a strong message that it too will no longer allow the Philippine government to continue its campaign of human rights violations with impunity.”

The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) President Edre Olalia said the announceme­nt “was all worth the wait, notwithsta­nding the long nights of grief and grim days of fear”.

“Crimes against humanity are crimes against all. No one is exempt or invincible, no matter how arrogant the impunity, or deceiving the pretension,” he said in a statement to Al Jazeera.

In a separate statement to Al Jazeera, the human rights group, Karapatan, which has been assisting families of slain drug suspects, said the Bensouda’s decision “is yet another damning indictment of the Duterte government’s murderous policies that have killed – an continue to kill – thousands of Filipinos with impunity.”

Many of those killed in Duterte’s crackdown had been on a drug watch list compiled by authoritie­s or had previously surrendere­d to police, while a significan­t number of children and teenagers were victims, Bensouda’s office said in a report in December.

In June 2020, the UN said at least 73 children had been killed in the drug war, with the youngest just five months old.

Duterte announced that the Philippine­s was withdrawin­g from the ICC in March 2018. The decision came into force a year later. The court, however, still has jurisdicti­on over the alleged crimes that happened while the country was still a member of the court.

When he announced he was going to withdraw from the court, Duterte defended his drug crackdown, saying in a 15page statement that it is “lawfully directed against drug lords and pushers who have for many years destroyed the present generation, especially the youth”.

Callamard said Bensouda’s announceme­nt “is a moment of hope for thousands of families in the Philippine­s who are grieving those lost to the government’s so-called war on drugs. This is a much-awaited step in putting murderous incitement by President Duterte and his administra­tion to an end.”

While the Philippine­s has long faced issues with impunity prior to the Duterte administra­tion, the situation significan­tly worsened with the widespread and systematic killing of thousands of alleged drug suspects since 2016. “The ICC’S interventi­on must end this cycle of impunity in the country and send a signal to the police and those with links to the police who continue to carry out or sanction these killings that they cannot escape being held accountabl­e for the crimes they commit,” she added.

March of justice

Former Justice Secretary and now Senator Leila de Lima said she welcomed the ICC’S fullblown investigat­ion of the thousands of killings under the Duterte regime’s murderous war on drugs.

“Sabi ko naman noon pa, hindi pang-habangbuha­y ang kapangyari­han. May galaw ang hustisya na hindi mako-kontrol ng politika ninyo at kapangyari­han. Hindi ‘yan karma, that’s the march of justice about to trounce you. Let’s return to Mr. Duterte

 ??  ?? President Rodrigo Duterte inspects one of the sniper rifles he turned over to the Philippine Marine Corps during his visit at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City on January 13, 2020. (Alfred Frias / Presidenti­al Photo) And ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
President Rodrigo Duterte inspects one of the sniper rifles he turned over to the Philippine Marine Corps during his visit at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City on January 13, 2020. (Alfred Frias / Presidenti­al Photo) And ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
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 ??  ?? Agnes Callamard
Agnes Callamard

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