President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is open to discussions regarding the possibility of the Philippines rejoining the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to a Palace official on Thursday. This comes amid renewed international calls for accountability concerning past human rights violations in the country.
In a report to the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council, which is scheduled to take place from June to July, Special Rapporteur Irene Khan urged the Philippines to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and to restore its previous ratification of the Rome Statute of the ICC.
“Ang suggestion ng UN rapporteur, ito po ay magandang suhestiyon. Ito po ay pag-aaralan po kung ito ay talaga dapat pa ring sumapi at mag-join sa ICC, i-ratify yung ibang international human rights law (The UN rapporteur’s suggestion is a good one. It will be studied to determine whether the country should rejoin the ICC and ratify other international human rights laws),” said Palace Press Officer Claire Castro during a press briefing in Malacañang.
Castro added, “Ito’y pag-aaralang mabuti ng ating Pangulo (The President will study this carefully). Open po siya, noong huli kaming nag-usap. Noon pa natin ito napag-usapan, sinabi po niya na open siya (He is open to it. The last time we spoke, we already discussed this and he said he was open).”
Former President Rodrigo Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in March 2019 after the tribunal began investigating his controversial anti-narcotics campaign. Despite this withdrawal, the ICC has maintained jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed while the Philippines was still a member.
Duterte is currently detained at the ICC in The Hague, The Netherlands, awaiting trial for alleged crimes against humanity.
Castro also highlighted what she described as growing international recognition of the Marcos administration’s efforts to improve the country’s human rights record. “Ikinasisiya po natin at napapansin internationally ang ginagawa ng Pangulo at pamahalaan para paigtingin ang karapatang pantao at para maaksyunan at pigilan ang mga enforced disappearances at extrajudicial killings na nagaganap noong nakaraang administrasyon (We are pleased that the efforts of the President and the government to strengthen human rights and act on enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings from the previous administration are being recognized internationally),” she stated.