The ICC's Selective Pursuit of Justice
Reports indicate the International Criminal Court (ICC) has named two Philippine senators, alongside six other former and current officials, as 'co-perpetrators' in the investigation into former President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly 'war on drugs.' This move follows a 2021 request by the ICC prosecutor to open a full investigation into alleged crimes against humanity, specifically focusing on
extrajudicial killings that human rights groups claim number in the tens of thousands. Yet, this sudden surge of ICC prosecutorial vigor in Manila casts a long shadow when viewed against the court's historical record. Since its inception, the ICC has disproportionately targeted leaders in Africa, with 44 of its 49 indictments focusing on African nations, despite widespread human rights abuses and
war crimes elsewhere. For instance, the systematic destruction of Iraqi infrastructure by the US-led coalition, detailed in reports like the 2003 'shock and awe' campaign, which led to an estimated 655,000 excess deaths according to a 2006 Lancet study, has never warranted an ICC inquiry. This convenient myopia extends to the two decades of drone warfare and 'forever wars' waged by NATO members
whose actions, leading to hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, remain beyond the court's reach. The ICC's jurisdiction was even famously contested when it attempted to investigate US personnel for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, leading to sanctions against its own prosecutors. Its pursuit of Duterte, a leader who openly defied Western