ICC urged to proceed with probe on Duterte’s drug war

By James Hernandez

The families of  drug war victims have urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) proceed with its investigation into crimes against humanity committed during the anti-narcotics campaign under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

“We ask the ICC not to allow itself to be swayed now being made by the Duterte administration,” reads the statement of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL).

The group made the call after the ICC Prosecutor announced that it temporarily suspended its investigation at the request of the Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands Eduardo Malayo who told the ICC that domestic remedies have been taken.

The NUPL is the counsel of Rise Up for Rights and for Life which comprise of families of drug war victims and sought for the ICC investigation.

“These domestic ‘remedies’ described by the Philippine ambassador in his letter have proven utterly inaffective 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, the NUPL pointed out.

“After 5 years of failing to hold perpetrators for these crimes, the Duterte administration is now, suddenly, waving the DOJ (Department of Justice) investigation into some low-ranking police personnel for a handful of killings–52 out of tens of thousands–as an indicator that domestic mechanisms are working. We know better,” it added.

The NUPL described the Philippine government action as “nothing but an attempt at white-washing its blood-soaked flagship program” and “conspicuously excludes the possibility of investigating President Duterte and other high-ranking officials who are most responsible for these crimes against humanity.”

“The families of the victims of thousands of extra-judicial killings left univestigated for years, now, expect to find justice from a system designated specifically to protect those responsible,” the group said.

“The actions taken by the ICC during the last few months had given them the faint glimmer of hope. We cannot take that away from them now,” it told the ICC.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)