Source: Reuters/Ezra Acayan

PHILIPPINES President Rodrigo Duterte has announced that the Southeast Asian nation will remove itself from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a month after prosecutors from the Hague-based court announced they would be launching a preliminary investigation into his controversial drug war. REUTERS/Ezra Acayan/File Photo

The decision marks a stunning about-face by Duterte, who has repeatedly dared the ICC to indict him and said he was willing to “rot in jail” or go on trial to defend a war on drugs that has killed thousands of his own people. The decision marks an about-face by Duterte, who initially welcomed a preliminary ICC examination announced last month into a complaint, filed by a Philippine lawyer, that accuses him and top officials of crimes against humanity, committed during a war on drugs that has killed thousands of people. But in a 15-page statement, dated March 13, Mr Duterte said he was withdrawing from the ICC's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, because of "baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks" by UN officials, and ICC actions that he said failed to follow due process and presumption of innocence. INTERNATIONAL ALARM

Duterte’s bloody campaign has caused international alarm and fierce criticism from some U.N. representatives, including High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, who on Friday said Duterte should submit himself for a psychiatric examination. A country’s withdrawal from the ICC takes effect a year after the UN has received the application and article 127 of the Rome statute specifies that “withdrawal shall not affect any cooperation with the court in connection with criminal investigations”. The ICC last month started a preliminary examination to establish whether crimes against humanity may have taken place during Duterte's deadly war on drugs, and whether the ICC had jurisdiction to take on the case. “The preliminary examination by the prosecutor Fatou Besouda unduly and maliciously created, it is apparent that the ICC is being utilised as a political tool against the Philippines,” said Duterte, who claimed the ICC was exhibiting a “clear bias” against himself and his administration.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announces the withdrawal of the Philippines from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over "outrageous attacks" by United Nations officials.