EU calls on Phl, other countries to join ICC

The visiting European Union's Asia Pacific chief yesterday urged the country to rejoin the International Criminal Court (ICC), as it stressed that the Philippines is not excluded from the ICC's legal jurisdiction even if the country withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2018.

- By PIA LEE-BRAGO

In an interview, Niclas Kvarnstrom, managing director for Asia and the Pacific of the European External Action Service, said the legal aspect does not exclude the Philippines from the ICC legal jurisdiction.

"I believe that the interpretation from our side of the legal aspect is that even if you left, it says specifically when you joined that, that does not exclude you," Kvarnstrom said on Monday.

The EU envoy likewise urged countries to join the ICC.

"We would encourage, you know, cooperation, but it's an organ under the UN umbrella," he added.

The Philippines was a state party to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC, since Nov. 1, 2011, deposited a written notification of withdrawal from the Statute on March 17, 2018. The Philippines' withdrawal from the Statute took effect on March 17, 2019.

The ICC allowed the resumption of the investigation on the thousands of extrajudicial killings and rights abuses committed during former president Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.

But the Philippine government has said it will not cooperate in the investigation.