THE reaction of pro-Duterte groups to the latest United States campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC) was both predictable and unseemly for cheering on a morally bankrupt administration whose idea of protecting human rights is letting its immigration goons gun down civilians in the name of keeping American streets “safe” from illegal immigrants.
With former president Rodrigo Duterte detained in an ICC cell awaiting trial for crimes against humanity related to his bloody war on illegal drugs, his supporters cheered when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed on July 13 to dismantle the court “brick by brick, if necessary,” using all available governmental tools.
The latest and most aggressive move by Donald Trump’s administration against the ICC was unveiled through a State Department press release and a prominent Wall Street Journal op-ed by Rubio.
The key elements include:
– Systematically disabling the ICC’s ability to operate, specifically to prevent it from targeting American servicemen, officials, or allies.
– Lobbying foreign leaders to withdraw from the ICC and cut off their financial support to the tribunal. Nations that rely on US military assistance but continue to recognize the ICC’s authority will face intense diplomatic scrutiny.
– Broadening measures, including visa revocations, travel bans, and wider-reaching economic sanctions targeting the tribunal as a whole.
Salvador Panelo, Duterte’s former chief presidential legal counsel, said the US campaign was “long in coming” and that “the bullying of ICC must stop.” He pointed to the “illegal and unforgivable” detention of Duterte as a classic example of the court overstepping its bounds and violating Philippine sovereignty.
One of the Duterte clan’s loudest defenders, Sen. Imee Marcos, warned that the government’s continued cooperation with the ICC would strain the country’s relations with its longtime ally, the US.
Many popular pro-Duterte content creators said the US sanctions were a massive victory that would “finish” or shut down the ongoing drug war probe.
In the real world, however, the US sanctions are primarily aimed at shielding American and allied personnel, such as those from Israel. In fact, the ICC’s move against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is accused of war crimes in Gaza, was the primary, immediate trigger that catalyzed the Trump administration’s sweeping sanctions against the court.
Senator Marcos’ worries aside, our relations with the US, with which we have had an “iron-clad” mutual defense treaty since 1952, would be flimsy indeed if this administration’s limited “cooperation” with the ICC — we are no longer members, thanks to Duterte — were to jeopardize that strategic alliance or subject us to US sanctions.
Here’s a reality check: The ICC is an independent body headquartered in the Netherlands, and US policy will not legally invalidate its operations. Nor will it cause Duterte’s release from detention. It is ironic that Duterte supporters now look to the US for relief, when their detained leader once rejected suggestions of a state visit there by saying, “I’ve seen America, and it’s lousy.”
The latest US campaign against the ICC is based on false legal assumptions and the rantings of a mentally unstable convicted criminal who happens to be the US president.
The Trump administration argues that the ICC violates US and Israeli sovereignty because neither nation ratified the Rome Statute, but this misrepresents standard territorial jurisdiction. Under well-established international law, if a citizen of a nonmember state commits a crime within the territory of an ICC member-state, that member-state has the absolute right to prosecute them or delegate that authority to the ICC.
Those who cry sovereignty ignore the fact that the ICC is a court of last resort designed under the principle of “complementarity.” It only steps in if a country is genuinely “unable or unwilling” to investigate and prosecute grave crimes itself. On paper, 6,252 suspects were killed in police operations during Duterte’s drug war, but human rights organizations estimate the true death toll is between 12,000 and 30,000 people. Despite the high number of fatalities, only five cases have successfully resulted in the conviction of nine police officers for drug war-related killings since 2016. No high-ranking officials who ordered the bloody campaign have been made to account for the deaths before local courts, which certainly look “unable or unwilling” to pursue such cases.
Finally, given Trump’s tendency to alienate America’s traditional allies, the misguided campaign to “obliterate” the ICC is unlikely to gain traction in countries such as the United Kingdom, Japan, and members of the European Union, which are all staunch state parties to the Rome Statute that created the ICC. US efforts to financially isolate the court, pressure other nations to withdraw, or threaten to withhold aid directly will further alienate these democratic allies and strain critical diplomatic coalitions.