Withdrawal from ICC to put PH into ‘quagmire of impunity’ — CenterLaw

President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to withdraw from the treaty that establishes the International Criminal Court (ICC) would plunge the country “deeper into the quagmire of impunity,” a human rights lawyers’ group said on Thursday.

Center for International Law (CenterLaw), Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque’s former law firm, said that Duterte’s decision gives the impression that the police and other state agents evade accountability for serious human rights violations.

“President Duterte’s decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court gives the false impression that government agents, especially our police force, can continue to perpetuate a culture of impunity and that that they can evade international accountability for crimes against humanity,” CenterLaw President Joel Butuyan said in a statement.

“CenterLaw shares our people’s fear that this attempt to withdraw from the ICC will plunge the country deeper into the quagmire of impunity – one that has already claimed thousands of lives,” he added.

Duterte on Wednesday announced the withdrawal from the Rome Statute, citing the apparent “concerted effort” between the United Nations special rapporteurs and the ICC special prosecutor to paint him as a “ruthless and heartless violator of human rights who allegedly caused thousands of extrajudicial killings.”

‘Erroneous’

Butuyan disputed the administration’s claim that the ICC is not “effective nor enforceable” in the country because it was not published at the Official Gazette after being ratified in 2011.

He cited the doctrine of transformation under Philippine jurisprudence, which states that an international treaty automatically becomes part of the domestic law upon concurrence of the Senate.

“There is no further requirement of publication in any newspaper of general circulation to make the treaty binding upon the Philippines, as the President contends,” he said.