Alleged crimes against humanity in the Philippines: who has jurisdiction?

Up to 30,000 people have been killed in the war on drugs in the Philippines under the administration of Rodrigo Roa Duterte as the country’s President from 2016 to 2022. These killings have shocked the international community, particularly the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. In September 2022, the Office of the Prosecutor of the Court submitted a refutation of the Philippine government’s request to terminate the Court’s investigation of potential crimes against humanity in the country. In this paper, I argue that the Court, through its Pre-Trial Chamber I must grant the Prosecutor’s request to continue investigating, as the arguments of the Philippine government, that the Court has no jurisdiction and violates complementarity under the Rome Statute hold no merit. My argument is grounded on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and a decision of the Philippine Supreme Court linked to the Philippine Constitution and a domestic law on crimes against humanity as subsidiary sources of international law. My argument is a modest contribution to conversations around global justice, treaty law, the international criminal regime, and the residual obligations of States that withdraw from treaties.