June 2021
Mr Karim Ahmad Khan QC
Office of the Prosecutor
International Criminal Court
The Hague, Netherlands
To Mr Khan and the ICC,
The Filipino youth as represented by its largest and most comprehensive political organization, Anakbayan (Sons and Daughters of the People), writes to your able office to support and press for the investigation of the crimes against humanity committed the Duterte government’s “war on drugs” campaign.
As a national youth organization with chapters in the Philippines’ major urban centers and rural villages, Anakbayan has laid witness to the senseless, and outright criminal perpetuation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war. Anakbayan has been vocal in its opposition to the controversial campaign from its onset on the grounds of its unjust, punitive, and bloody character rid of due process. Accordingly, our organization has provided numerous educational material regarding the drug war, organized forums and similar engagement with cause-oriented groups, and lobbied for the end of the drug war and provision of justice to its victims. Anakbayan has also participated as a complainant in Mr Duterte’s trial before the International People’s Tribunal (IPT) in 2018. The IPT found Duterte guilty of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and violations of law and legal instruments.
As such, Anakbayan echoes the demands of the Filipino people in seeing President Duterte behind bars through whatever legal and/or democratic instrumentations. Even before he rose into the presidency, the infamous “Davao Death Squad” have long ran amok in Duterte’s hometown since the 90s, a group long attributed to then Davao mayor. With this, we also challenge the ICC to look into the killings of countless dissidents in our country from 2011-2019 during the ICC’s jurisdiction, as the problem of summary killings go way back and beyond the drug issue.
Anakbayan understands that the Duterte’s government has arrayed significant challenges before the ICC, but the demand for justice for over 30,000 lives lost from the grassroots is unrelenting. Consequently, we relay these outstanding demands before the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor in the hopes of affirming and reinforcing its decision to investigate and prosecute Mr. Duterte and the enforcers of his drug war, and to effect justice to its thousands of victims.
Sincerely,
Vinz Simon,
Secretary General
ANAKBAYAN