ICC judges question legitimacy of the Philippines’ ‘war on drugs’, authorise investigation
- In a written decision, the judges said killings committed across the Philippines as part of the war on drugs appear to amount to a crime against humanity
- The anti-drugs campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte ‘cannot be seen as a legitimate law enforcement operation’, the judges said
The court’s former prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, sought permission from judges earlier this year to investigate the Philippine government’s campaign.
In a written decision, judges who considered Bensouda’s request found a “reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation” into killings committed throughout the Philippines as part of the war on drugs, saying they appear to amount to a crime against humanity under the court’s founding statute.
The court said in a statement that the judges ruled that “based on the facts as they emerge at the present stage and subject to proper investigation and further analysis, the so-called war on drugs campaign cannot be seen as a legitimate law enforcement operation, and the killings neither as legitimate nor as mere excesses in an otherwise legitimate operation.”
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They added that “the available material indicates, to the required standard, that a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population took place pursuant to or in furtherance of a state policy.”
