The International Criminal Court (ICC) is decided to continue its probe on President Rodrigo Duterte’s war-on-drugs campaign despite the country’s withdrawal from the organization.
The ICC stressed that withdrawal of a member country will only be effective one year after the notice was filed.
The organization also argued that the preliminary investigation began prior to the filing of notice of withdrawal.
“A withdrawal becomes effective one year after the deposit of notice of withdrawal to the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General. A withdrawal has no impact on on-going proceedings or any matter which was already under consideration by the Court prior to the date on which the withdrawal became effective; nor on the status of any judge already serving at the Court,” the ICC said.
The United Nations secretary-general received the notice on Saturday while the ICC was informed on Monday night.
Duterte announced on March 14, that the Philippines 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 and his war-on-drugs campaign, 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.
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 campaign.
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.
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.
