President Rodrigo Duterte The president of the Philippines has announced his country’s immediate withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) following “outrageous attacks” by the court and UN officials.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who is under scrutiny by the international court over his deadly war on drugs, claimed that there is a “concerted effort” to undermine his administration.
He accused UN special rapporteurs and ICC investigators of painting him as a “ruthless and heartless violator of human rights who allegedly caused thousands of extrajudicial killings”.
The president complained about what he said were “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks on my person and against my administration, engineered by officials of the United Nations”. He said the treaty, also known as the Rome Statute, which the Philippines signed in 2011, is not “effective nor enforceable” because it was not published in the Official Gazette.
The Rome Statute established the ICC when it was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome in 1998. It entered into force on July 1, 2002.
“The Philippines is not Duterte,” said Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, head of the Episcopal Commission on the Laity.
The prelate said the president’s decision only showed that there might be basis for the allegations levelled against him.