Gov't should 'genuinely' probe drug deaths or ICC will step in - CHR

MANILA - The Philippine government should show sincerity in its investigation of deaths linked to President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs before the International Criminal Court steps in, the Commission on Human Rights said Monday.

The international tribunal's complementarity principle indicates that before the ICC can take jurisdiction over the case, "it must be shown that these cases are not being investigated properly or prosecuted properly or genuinely in the national court," said CHR Commissioner Roberto Cadiz.

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Cadiz said in a preliminary examination, the ICC would check if the complaint falls under any of crimes in its statute—war crime, genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression—the date when it was committed, if it was committed within the state-party, and the issue of complementarity.

“It (the government) has to genuinely show that there is a serious effort to look into these cases, to investigate these cases—hindi yung pakitang-tao. Otherwise, the ICC will assume jurisdiction over the case,” he told ANC’s Early Edition.

“I think there is genuine investigation on very few cases, but by and large, in majority of these cases, there have been actually no movement, no serious investigation. The ICC will have to make a judgment call there,” he said.

Cadiz said the CHR will cooperate with the ICC "in full," as it is part of their obligation as a human rights body, but they have not yet received a formal request.