It is time for the Philippines to rejoin the International Criminal Court (ICC) to demonstrate the government’s genuine commitment to upholding human rights, Bayan Muna said.
In light of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and first appearance at the ICC last week, former Bayan Muna congressman Neri Colmenares’ said the country’s second ratification of the Rome Statute would also show it is serious in ending the culture of impunity.
“The ICC is an important mechanism to ensure that no head of state would scape accountability from grave human rights abuses,” Colmenares said.
The Philippines must reestablish its membership with the ICC to protect the rights of the Filipino people,” he added.
Himself an international law expert, Colmenares gave a positive assessment of the ICC’s preliminary hearing on Duterte’s drug war, emphasizing the importance of the Philippines.
Colmenares was an associate of the Asian Law Centre at Melbourne Law School when he was completing his Ph.D. in law on “The Writ of Amparo and the International Criminal Court.”
He also lectured at the University of Melbourne on International Human Rights Law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
“The ICC preliminary hearing demonstrated what genuine justice mechanisms look like. The proceedings were fair, direct, and focused on the objectives of the hearing without being derailed by diversionary tactics,” the Bayan Muna chairman said.
Colmenares highlighted how the ICC efficiently handled the proceedings by simply noting the manifestations of Duterte’s camp and scheduling them for proper discussion at the next hearing on September 23.
“The ongoing ICC proceedings against former President Duterte should serve as a wake-up call to our current leadership. Rejoining the ICC would be a decisive step toward ensuring justice for the thousands of victims of extrajudicial killings and their families,” Colmenares concluded. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
