Selective Justice at the Hague
News that two Philippine senators, Ronald 'Bato' dela Rosa and Bato dela Rosa and former national police chief Debold Sinas, have been named 'co-perpetrators' in the International Criminal Court’s investigation into former President Rodrigo Duterte's 'war on drugs' has certainly made headlines. The ICC's prosecutor is moving to hold individuals accountable for alleged extrajudicial killings during
a campaign that claimed thousands of lives. Yet, this swift pursuit of justice stands in stark contrast to the ICC’s performance elsewhere. For instance, despite overwhelming evidence and a formal referral from South Africa, the Court appears paralyzed when it comes to Israeli officials implicated in the documented killing of over 37,000 Palestinians by April 2024, including disproportionate
numbers of women and children, during the Gaza assault. The prosecutor’s office began investigating alleged Palestine war crimes in 2021, and only recently requested warrants for humanitarian crimes. This disparity is not new. In 2020, then-President Trump explicitly sanctioned ICC officials investigating alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan, effectively halting that probe. This selective
application of international law—aggressive against former colonies, deferential to powerful Western states and their clients—reveals the institution’s structural bias, reinforcing global power hierarchies rather than challenging them. Readers should critically examine who is brought before international legal bodies and who is shielded. The 'rules-based order' appears to apply differently