Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte announced on Wednesday that the country is withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), ordering it to be ‘effective immediately’.
Duterte cited that the basis for his decision is the “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks” of the ICC against him, adding that the attempt of the ICC to place him under the tribunal’s jurisdiction as another reason.
“I therefore declare and forthwith give notice, as President of the Republic of the Philippines, that the Philippines is withdrawing its ratification of the Rome Statute effective immediately,” the President said in a statement.
According to Article 127 of the Rome Statute, however, “a state may, by written notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, withdraw from this Statute. The withdrawal shall take effect one year after the date of receipt of the notification, unless the notification specifies a later date.”
Duterte retaliated by saying that the agreement was a ‘fraud’.
“Not applicable in so far as the effectivity of the withdrawal of the Philippines as a signatory to the Rome Statute is concerned, for the reason that there appears to be fraud in entering such agreement,” his written statement read.
Earlier, ICC conducted a “preliminary investigation” on Duterte’s war on drugs after a complaint was filed against the Philippine president due to high number of killings recorded during the process.
ICC clarified that the “investigation” was simply an examination to check if there are grounds to proceed with a deeper investigation.
Duterte, however, stressed that the ICC has no power over the Philippine government.
“You cannot acquire jurisdiction over me, not in a million years,” he emphasized.
The Philippines is the 117th State Party of the ICC. The country signed the Rome Statute of the ICC in 2000 and ratified it in 2011.
Philippines is also not the first country to leave the ICC. Countries including Russia, South Africa and Gambia have previously withdrawn from the group.
ICC is an intergovernmental organization that serves as a permanent international court that can prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes among others.
