The dramatic arrest of the Philippines\u2019 controversial former president in March sent shock waves through much of the world \u2013 and cast a renewed spotlight on the other leaders wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). <\/p>\n
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who was whisked off to the Netherlands to answer for alleged crimes against humanity, had long been under scrutiny over a brutal anti-drugs crackdown. But even after years of on-and-off investigations, during which Duterte taunted the court and told it to \u201churry up,\u201d his detention came as a surprise to many experts. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had other high-ranking individuals brought before the court,\u201d including several former presidents of African nations, said Leila Sadat, professor of international criminal law at the Washington University School of Law and the former special adviser on crimes against humanity to the ICC prosecutor. <\/p>\n
But in many of those cases, the prosecuted leaders were either summoned to court or arrested after a warrant was publicly issued \u2013 a stark contrast to Duterte\u2019s case, where the warrant was issued secretly and the former leader swiftly apprehended within several head-spinning hours. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the first time we\u2019ve seen this at the ICC,\u201d Sadat said \u2013 though similar cases have been seen in other international tribunals, she added. <\/p>\n
Duterte, now 80, oversaw a ferocious crackdown on alleged drug pushers in the Philippines that killed more than 6,000 people, based on police data. Independent monitors believe the number of extrajudicial killings could be much higher. <\/p>\n
His arrest is significant, partly because it could set a precedent for future trials of other leaders wanted by the court, however unlikely, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say their turn could be imminent, far from it \u2013 many political factors can make it extremely difficult to execute an arrest warrant. <\/p>\n
Case in point: Netanyahu on Sunday was wrapping up a visit to Hungary, in defiance of the ICC warrant. As a signatory to the Rome Statute, Hungary is obligated to arrest anyone wanted by the ICC. Instead, its Prime Minister Viktor Orban welcomed Netanyahu with open arms, and Budapest announced it would begin the process of leaving the court. <\/p>\n
But Duterte\u2019s case has shown that arrest is possible <\/strong>\u2013 especially once a leader is out of office \u2013 <\/strong>and that the threat against those wanted leaders is not only theoretical. <\/p>\n \u201cThe precedent set here \u2013 maybe not now, but in future generations \u2013 will allow us to visualize what justice looks like for the highest-ranking leaders of countries that commit these kinds of crimes,\u201d said Gregory Gordon, a professor of international criminal law at the Peking University School of Transnational Law in Shenzhen, China. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always that initial breakthrough that has to happen.\u201d <\/p>\n Located in The Hague in the Netherlands, the ICC investigates and prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression against the territory of its member states, of which there are 125. <\/p>\n The court cannot carry out arrests on its own and relies on the cooperation of national governments to execute warrants \u2013 which often rests on domestic politics and political will. <\/p>\n ICC member countries include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil and all other members of the European Union <\/strong>\u2013 at least until Hungary makes its promised exit. <\/p>\n In March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova over an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia. <\/p>\n The charges were the first to be formally lodged by the ICC against Russian officials since the Kremlin\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. <\/p>\n Russia \u2013 like the United States, Israel, China and Ukraine \u2013 is not a member of the ICC. The court does not have its own police force and does not conduct trials in absentia \u2013 and therefore the likelihood of any Russian official appearing before it is very low, analysts said. <\/p>\n Any charged Russian officials would either have to be handed over by Moscow, or arrested outside of Russia, said Sadat, the Washington University professor. <\/p>\n \u201cThe warrant against Vladimir Putin himself is obviously the most challenging because he\u2019s a head of state in power, and he\u2019s not going to leave Russia unless he\u2019s pretty sure he\u2019s going to have immunity wherever he goes,\u201d she said. \u201cBut his choices are now restricted, and he\u2019s been labeled, for better or worse, a war criminal.\u201d <\/p>\n Gordon agreed, saying the chances of Putin being arrested are slim, given his \u201cfirm grip on power\u201d and layers of protection \u2013 unless Russia\u2019s domestic political situation changes enough to leave him vulnerable. After all, it was a dramatic change in the Philippines\u2019 domestic politics that ultimately did for Duterte. <\/p>\n Even when Putin leaves Russia, many countries are unwilling to arrest him. Last year, the Russian leader traveled to Mongolia without facing any repercussions \u2013 despite the East Asian country being a member of the ICC. <\/p>\n \u201cObviously the pressure on a small country like Mongolia is pretty substantial,\u201d Sadat said. <\/p>\n But she pointed to other times the warrant had seemed to restrict Putin\u2019s movements; in 2023, the Russian leader attended a BRICS summit in ICC signatory South Africa via video call, sparing the host country a potential diplomatic quandary. <\/p>\n \u201cI think the warrants themselves are powerful. At the same time, we do have to see a significant number of warrants actually get executed, or the warrants become sort of symbols of a court that can\u2019t arrest its accused,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why (Duterte\u2019s arrest) is a really exciting moment for the court, because it shows it can engage in interstate cooperation.\u201d <\/p>\n The ICC issued its warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024 \u2013 also seeking the arrest of former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant \u2013 citing allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Israel\u2019s war against Hamas in Gaza. <\/p>\n A senior Hamas official is also wanted by the ICC on allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. Other leaders of the militant group sought by the court for prosecution were killed by Israel. <\/p>\n The historic warrants made Netanyahu the first Israeli leader summoned by an international court for alleged actions against Palestinians in the more than seven-decade-long Arab-Israeli conflict. <\/p>\n The warrants were also denounced across the Israeli political spectrum as unconscionable, with Netanyahu\u2019s own office labeling the move \u201cantisemitic.\u201d Several Israeli allies \u2013 including the United States \u2013 strongly criticized the ICC warrant. <\/p>\n Israel is not a member of the ICC and does not recognize the ICC\u2019s jurisdiction, nor does it honor international warrants issued by the court, and likely wouldn\u2019t turn over Israeli citizens for prosecution. In addition, the ICC only steps in when a country\u2019s own government is unwilling or unable to prosecute cases. <\/p>\n But unlike Russia, it is a functioning democracy, with a long history of peaceful transitions between elected governments. That makes Netanyahu\u2019s future political security more tenuous than Putin\u2019s, and more comparable to the Duterte situation, where a shift in government once the Philippine leader was out of office ultimately led to his downfall. <\/p>\n The Israeli prime minister is already contending with a number of domestic legal troubles unrelated to the Gaza war, including a long-running corruption trial. <\/p>\n Israel is also deeply politically divided, with many citizens furious at the Netanyahu government and his far-right cabinet allies. <\/p>\n According to Gordon, it is at least \u201cconceivable\u201d that Netanyahu could one day face arrest in Israel for alleged crimes related to Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza \u2013 though that still doesn\u2019t mean the ICC warrant would be enforced. <\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the fact that several powerful nations have opted not to enforce the ICC\u2019s warrants while others have openly rejected them \u2013 further undermining the court\u2019s authority. <\/p>\n France, for instance, had fervently supported the ICC\u2019s warrant for Putin \u2013 but it shifted its stance after the court sought Netanyahu\u2019s arrest, arguing that as Israel was not an ICC member, its prime minister should be immune from prosecution. Other European nations have also indicated they would be unwilling to enforce the Israeli warrants. <\/p>\n But critics say the responses suggest two sets of rules: one for the West\u2019s traditional allies, and another for its foes. <\/p>\n The ICC has a long list of outstanding arrest warrants, including for former dictator Omar al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan for three decades before being deposed in 2019. Currently imprisoned in Sudan, Bashir faces charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. <\/p>\n A disproportionate number of ICC prosecutions have been against African leaders, warlords and militia members \u2013 including former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and the East African country\u2019s current leader William Ruto, whose case was abandoned by the court partly due to \u201cwitness interference and political meddling.\u201d <\/p>\n The ICC\u2019s past focus on Africa is partly rooted in its constitution, said Sadat in Washington. The court can only exercise jurisdiction in crimes committed on or after its creation on July 1, 2002. At the time, major wars that killed millions were raging across Africa, from Darfur to the Democratic Republic of Congo. <\/p>\n Additionally, many African nations self-referred their cases to the ICC, Sadat added \u2013 meaning they asked the international court to investigate and granted it jurisdiction. <\/p>\n \u201cWith time, the prosecutor\u2019s office started staffing up, developing more expertise, taking on additional situations \u2026 now the court is moving into other situations,\u201d Sadat said. <\/p>\n But, she added, it\u2019s difficult to prosecute alleged crimes while conflicts are ongoing and those accused remain in positions of power. <\/p>\n For years, the ICC has faced criticism for slow trials and its low conviction rate. From 60 arrest warrants issued since the court was created, 31 suspects remain at large. Only 11 defendants have ever been convicted \u2013 all African war criminals. <\/p>\n Sadat pointed to Syria, saying that for years, the ICC couldn\u2019t \u201cfigure out a way to get jurisdiction\u201d to investigate alleged war crimes during the country\u2019s civil war \u2013 until former dictator Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime was toppled in December. Since then, the new interim government has invited the court to visit the country and collect the evidence needed for prosecution. <\/p>\n The Philippines is another prime example of how ICC cases often become stuck until some political upheaval changes the game, said Gordon, the law professor. <\/p>\n Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had previously said the Southeast Asian country would not engage with the ICC, only for Manila to reverse its stance this week following the collapse of an alliance between the Marcos political dynasty and Duterte\u2019s clan. <\/p>\n Some might argue \u201cthat this is just about politics, and that the only time the ICC will ever be able to engage in the justice process is if political processes are aligned in certain ways \u2013 and it\u2019s just a matter of luck, not justice,\u201d Gordon said. <\/p>\n Duterte\u2019s arrest could establish a foundation for \u201ccombating the culture of impunity and assuring accountability for state leaders who commit international crimes,\u201d Gordon said. <\/p>\n \u201cThat makes people in the future more comfortable with the idea that it can be done.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The dramatic arrest of the Philippines\u2019 controversial former president in March sent shock waves through much of the world \u2013 and cast a renewed spotlight on the other leaders wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who was whisked off to the Netherlands to answer for alleged crimes against humanity,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Putin and the Ukraine war<\/h2>\n
Netanyahu, Hamas and the Gaza war<\/h2>\n
The trouble with international prosecutions<\/h2>\n