Keeping It Real: Duterte’s Drug War Slaughter and the ICC
side event on the online margins of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Treaty (ICC)
Wednesday 15 December 2021, 7:00am New York / 1:00pm The Hague / 8:00pm Manila
Since taking office in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines has presided over a drug war extrajudicial killing campaign in which NGOs estimate more than 30,000 people have died. In response to the threat and now reality of an investigation by the International Criminal Court, the Duterte administration has argued the ICC lacks jurisdiction because the Philippines has an accountability process underway. But the scope of the government’s investigations, and of any results from them, both remain very small. “Keeping It Real” will discuss the Philippine Department of Justice’s Interagency Task Force, the continuing reality of government orchestrated extrajudicial killings, the administration’s recent motion to suspend the ICC investigation, and the incarceration of Duterte critic Senator Leila de Lima as it approaches its five-year mark and as she runs for reelection from jail.
Keynote:
Atty Jose Manuel I. “Chel” Diokno is Founding Dean of the De La Salle University (DLSU) College of Law, where he served as Dean from 2010-2019; and is Chair of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), the oldest organization of human rights lawyers in the Philippines. Already prominent in legal circles, Diokno gained greater fame while running for Senate in 2019, especially among Filipino youth, and he is a 1Sambayan coalition candidate for Senate in 2022.
Comments on ICC process by Elizabeth Evenson, Associate Director, International Justice Program, Human Rights Watch
Other commenters to be announced.
Co-moderators:
David Borden, Executive Director, StoptheDrugWar.org
Marco Perduca, former Senator, Italy, 2008-2013
Organized by DRCNet Foundation AKA StoptheDrugWar.org, cosponsored by Associazone Luca Coscioni, Ecumenical Advocacy Network for the Philippines, Filipino American Human Rights Alliance, Forum Droghe, la Società della Ragione. Other cosponsors TBA.
