The Rome Statute is a treaty among 120 countries that established the International Criminal Court, adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998; it took effect on 1 July 2002.
As of January this year, 125 states are party to the Statute.
Among other functions, the Rome Statute establishes court function, structure and jurisdiction to “investigate, prosecute, and try” individuals accused of international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.”
Duterte, who contested his extradition to the Philippines, presided over a violent “war on drugs” when he was Davao mayor, then Philippine president, that saw thousands of small-time drug dealers, users, and others killed without trial from 2016 to 2022 — now labelled as “crimes against humanity”.
On Dec. 28, 2000 through then President Estrada, the Philippines signed the Rome Statute, and ratified it on Aug. 30, 2011, becoming the 117th state to join the ICC system. During Duterte’s administration, the country withdrew its membership from the ICC, which took effect on 17 March 2019, or one year after notification, as per Article 127(1) of the Rome Statute.
Under Article 127(2), a withdrawing state remains obligated only with respect to matters already “under consideration” by the Court before the withdrawal becomes effective.
However, it is important to consider that earlier on Dec. 11, 2009, then President Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law Republic Act No. 9851, otherwise known as the Philippine Act on Crimes against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, & Other Crimes against Humanity, which adapted and replicated many of the Rome Statute’s provisions.
Criminal lawyer Joel Butuyan, president of the Centre for International Law, one of five ICC-accredited Filipino lawyers, told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines that RA 9851 in fact provided the “additional basis” for Duterte’s warrant of arrest.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio said the Act “should have been used as the legal basis” for Duterte’s arrest and transfer to The Hague, Netherlands.
Under the Rome Statute, the ICC can only investigate and prosecute the four core international crimes in situations where states are “unable” or “unwilling” to do so themselves.
The jurisdiction of the court is complementary to jurisdictions of domestic courts. The court has jurisdiction over crimes only if they are committed in the territory of, by a national of, or on a vessel registered under a state party or a non-party that has accepted the jurisdiction of the Court; or if the UN Security Council makes a referral.
Duterte supporters argue that as a sovereign nation, the Philippines must not be compelled to dance to the tune of a Treaty it had lawfully exited from in 2019. He is a national of a non-member state, and was arrested within the territory of the Philippines. Which meant that as a non-member state, the Philippines was under no treaty obligation to adhere to Article 59 or any other provisions of the Rome Statute.
Case dismissed or what?
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Author’s email: whelmayap@yahoo.com
