The International Criminal Court
On 14 December 2020 the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor said that there is “reasonable basis to believe” the president of the Philippines has committed crimes against humanity.
“On 18 July 2023, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “Court”), confirmed the authorization for the ICC Prosecutor to resume its investigations of the crime against humanity of murder in the Republic of the Philippines. The Court dismissed the Philippines ground of appeal that the Court cannot exercise its jurisdiction over the Philippines situation because the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute. This was the final avenue of appeal for the Marcos-Duterte government in their attempt to evade prosecution for crimes against humanity.”
ICHRP synopsis (July 19, 2023) of ICC Press Release: 18 July 2023
Investigate PH
“Duterte has sought to obstruct past UN investigations, and threatened an International Criminal Court prosecutor probing the “War on Drugs” with arrest. In 2018, his administration’s Department of Justice sought to place a UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples on a “terrorist” watch list.”
Amnesty International
“Four years into his presidency, Rodrigo Duterte has turned the Philippines into a bloodbath where police and unidentified vigilantes are free to kill as they please.”
Amnesty International: Philippines UN pressure end killings
Amnesty International: Extrajudicial executions in the Philippines “war on drugs”
Human Rights Watch
“Threats and attacks, including killings, against left-wing political activists, environmental activists, community leaders, Indigenous peoples’ leaders, journalists, lawyers, and others rose in the past year.”
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/philippines
Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights
“Numerous human rights defenders have shared with OHCHR death threats that they have received in text messages or phone calls or on social media. One red-tagged rights defender, Honey Mae Suazo, has been missing since 2 November 2019.”
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session44/Documents/A_HRC_44-22.docx
Council of Global Unions
“In the ITUC Report of 2020, the Philippines is included in the top 10 most dangerous countries in the world for workers. The Philippine trade union movement can attest to the alarming level of repression of workers’ rights in the country. There have been too many unexplained disappearances and killings of labor leaders and members.”
Council of Global Unions Statement on the Suppression of Democratic Rights in the Philippines
Global Witness
“In 2018, 30 land and environmental defenders were killed in the Philippines, making it the country with the highest number of such killings in the world.”
https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/defending-philippines/
International Federation of Journalists
“there can be no dispute about the Philippines continuing to be one of the most dangerous countries to practice the profession.”
Holding the line: Southeast Asia Media Freedom Report 2019