| Photo via Wikimedia Commons
A Special Report
World leaders must be warned again of “Crimes Against Humanity”. Especially if their respective term of office have expired or they have been defeated in their re-election bid. They can be sued before the International Criminal Court (ICC) based on reports submitted and documented by private, corporate human rights entities.
According to the ICC website, at least 31 individuals with active arrest warrants are currently at large. Overall, judges have already issued 60 arrest warrants throughout the court’s two-decade existence — 21 have been detained or appeared before the court, while seven have already died.
The latest to be arrested is former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. He joins the ranks of war criminals and dictators after his arrest following a warrant issued by the ICC. He is charged with his violent war on drugs that killed thousands of Filipinos during his term as president and Davao City mayor. Almost all of those killed were never arrested and charged with criminal offenses, except for several alleged drug-factory owners, including Chinese nationals. The latter were killed inside prisons while they were awaiting trial in a Philippine court of law. The Philippine term for the violent deaths is “extra-judicial killings” (EJK).
According to the Philippine Presidential Communications Office, on March 11, 2025, the government received from the International Criminal Police Commission (known as “Interpol”) an official copy of a warrant of arrest issued by the ICC against the former president. Upon his arrival from Hong Kong, Mr. Duterte was presented by the Prosecutor General with the ICC notification for an arrest warrant over “crimes against humanity”.
The ICC warrant comes almost nine years after the tribunal first took notice of the bloodshed under Mr. Duterte’s flagship campaign, which led to more than 30,000 EJK cases that included those killed vigilante-style. The total number of EJK victims may reach 40,000. The warrant was received by the Manila office of Interpol, an organization that relies on its member countries to arrest wanted criminals.
Mr. Duterte relentlessly ordered the alleged killings of Filipinos from the presidential pulpit from 2016 to 2022. He is the latest former leader to be arrested and subjected to trial by the ICC.
Human rights organizations in the Philippines filed the complaints for “Crimes Against Humanity” against Mr. Duterte, et al, including some members of his First Family. It had also been done by similar groups in Cambodia, Israel, Libya, Russia, Sudan, and other countries against abusive leaders, especially with criminal wartime records. Included are declarations of war against illegal drugs, illegal immigration, political asylum, and civil rights.
At least four other individuals with existing ICC arrest warrants were either sitting or former leaders of their governments at the time of issuance. These include two current leaders — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin — as well as former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Saif Gaddafi, the son of Libya’s late dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.
The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime control, connecting law enforcement agencies from its 196 member countries. It is not a law-enforcement agency itself but acts as a global hub for information sharing, providing a secure communication network, databases, and investigative support to help member countries fight crime. The organization was founded in 1923 as the International Criminal Police Commission and is headquartered in Lyon, France.
Interpol received custody of former Philippine President Duterte after the Philippine government honored a warrant of arrest from the ICC. Philippine police authorities arrested Mr. Duterte and turned him over to Interpol. He is presently confined in an ICC detention center in The Hague, Netherlands, where his trial is being conducted. Yes, the ICC has an extended criminal jurisdiction.
World leaders are reminded again that individuals accused of illegal drug addiction or manufacturing, or distribution of banned addictive substances, have to be arrested first and then tried in a criminal court of justice. Killing them at the scene of the supposed crime is a violation of their human rights. Even illegal migrants and political refugees have human and civil rights, too, and they cannot just be arrested, tortured, and deported to nations that are not their home countries. Or worse, subject to EJKs in the countries to which they are illegally deported. Or worse, at the border where they are first arrested or detained.
