MANILA: Families of victims of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war could bear the brunt of United States sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Truth Commission warned on Sunday (Oct 11).
According to the civil society-led commission, the restrictions could undermine efforts to secure justice for victims of Duterte’s drug war, including by disrupting funding for their lawyers.
“The governments that pushed for these sanctions will hardly notice the impact. But victims in poorer countries, for whom this court is often their only recourse for accountability, will feel it right away,” the commission said in a statement on Sunday.
Without adequate financial support, victims could lose the opportunity to seek justice before the court, including a mother from a poor Manila neighborhood who has waited years to testify about her son’s death, it added.
The Truth Commission, which is not involved in the ICC investigation, warned that the sanctions could have consequences far beyond The Hague, where the court is based.
The US government on Friday imposed new sanctions on the ICC, vowing to cripple the tribunal’s operations. These include measures prohibiting American companies and banks from doing business with the court.
“American companies and banks are now barred from dealing with the court, and sanctions of this kind usually force banks to close accounts and software firms to cut off service, as Reuters reported,” the commission said.
It warned that banks in other countries may also sever ties with the court to avoid jeopardising their access to the US financial system.
“Victims’ lawyers have to be paid, and witnesses who fly to The Hague need protection when they come home. None of that happens if the money stops,” the Truth Commission said.
The ICC maintained that its role as a court of last resort is not politically motivated and urged member states to ensure it can continue fulfilling its mandate despite the new US sanctions.
The ICC is set to put Duterte on trial on Nov. 30 over killings linked to his administration’s war on drugs.
“Only a handful of police officers have been convicted for thousands of those murders, which tells you how rarely anyone in the Philippines answers for these deaths,” the commission said. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
