{"id":151815,"date":"2018-02-08T23:50:44","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T04:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=151815"},"modified":"2018-02-09T02:30:35","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T07:30:35","slug":"hrw-urges-un-member-countries-to-call-probe-vs-duterte-ph-drug-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/02\/08\/hrw-urges-un-member-countries-to-call-probe-vs-duterte-ph-drug-war\/","title":{"rendered":"HRW urges UN member countries to call probe vs Duterte, PH drug war"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"President<\/a>
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, in his speech during the inauguration of the new Communications, Navigation, Surveillance \/ Air Traffic Management (CNS\/ATM) Systems Development Project at the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center (PATMC) in Pasay City on January 16, 2018, announces that he will conduct a review on the various public works projects that have remained unfinished citing that he may terminate the contractors and find new ones who will get the job done. SIMEON CELI JR.\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday said that the move of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to conduct a preliminary examination on the alleged summary executions related to President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s campaign to suppress the narcotics problem in the Philippines should prompt United Nations member countries to oppose Duterte\u2019s bloody drug war campaign, and call for a probe into the alleged extrajudicial killings under his drug war.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch an investigation would send the message that UN member countries strongly support justice in the Philippines and put further pressure on the Duterte government to stop the killings and to cooperate with efforts to hold those responsible to account,\u201d HRW’s Associate Director in International Justice program Param-Preet Singh said.<\/p>\n

Singh added that the preliminary examination is a point of entry to determine a possible basis for a formal investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn ICC preliminary examination is not a full-blown, on-the-ground investigation. But it\u2019s a first step to determine a possible basis for a formal ICC investigation and sends an important signal that the severity of the alleged abuses warrants the prosecutor\u2019s scrutiny,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Singh, the ICC\u2019s action to conduct a preliminary investigation is a \u201crebuke of the\u00a0Philippine government\u2019s campaign of denial\u00a0and\u00a0distraction\u00a0seemingly designed to deflect growing evidence of extrajudicial executions that\u00a0Duterte and senior government officials have incited and instigated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singh also criticized\u00a0Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque after the latter said that the investigation would be a \u201cwaste of time and resources\u201d for the court. She stressed that the response of Duterte\u2019s spokesperson is just an example of government efforts to deny \u201chorrific\u00a0human toll of the anti-drug campaign.”<\/p>\n

Roque said earlier that the intent of preliminary examination is to determine whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation, and is different from the preliminary investigation.<\/p>\n

Palace also expressed confidence saying the President welcomes the preliminary examination as he\u00a0is \u201csick and tired\u201d of being accused of crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

Roque said that the ICC\u2019s launching of the preliminary examination is an opportunity to prove that the case is not subject to the court\u2019s jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an opportunity for him to prove that this is not subject to the court\u2019s jurisdiction because of both complementarity that domestic courts; and the fact that we have a domestic international humanitarian law statute in our jurisdiction are reasons enough for the court not to exercise jurisdiction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The examination stemmed from a complaint filed against President Rodrigo Duterte and 11 other government officials before the ICC, where Duterte was tagged as a \u201cmass murderer.\u201d The complaint also seeks to bring a suit against Duterte for \u201cthe terrifying and gruesome situation of continuing mass murder in the Philippines.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April 2017, lawyer Jude Sabio, counsel of hitman Edgar Matobato asked ICC to institute legal proceedings against the president over his alleged involvement in the so-called Davao Death Squad.<\/p>\n

In the same year, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano filed a supplemental communication against Duterte and other officials before ICC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday said that the move of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":147178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,95],"tags":[34693,46186,46187,46173],"class_list":["post-151815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-ph","tag-human-rights-watch-hrw","tag-international-criminal-court-icc-in-the-hague","tag-international-justice-program-param-preet-singh","tag-preliminary-examination","mauthors-michealina-vallarta-david","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}