Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte urges other nations to quit ‘rude’ International Criminal Court … and then blasts ‘white idiots in the EU’
The Philippines on Thursday told the UN it was withdrawing from the ICC, triggering warnings from a top tribunal official that it would harm global efforts to end impunity for the world’s worst crimes
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday urged other nations to follow his move to quit the International Criminal Court, which is examining his deadly drug war.
Duterte lashed out at the war crimes tribunal days after his government notified the United Nations of his decision to withdraw the Philippines from the Rome Statute which set up the court.
“I said withdraw simply because to announce to the world, and I will convince everybody now who (is) under the treaty: get out, get out. It is rude,” Duterte said in a speech to Philippine Military Academy graduates.
“It is not a document that was prepared by anybody. It’s an EU-sponsored (treaty),” he added, as he criticised the court for allegedly going after “blacks”.
The Hague-based ICC announced last month it was launching a “preliminary examination” of Duterte’s anti-drug crackdown that has prompted international concern.
Duterte, 72, won elections in mid-2016 vowing to launch an unprecedented drug war in which tens of thousands of people would die.