After Russia, Philippines’ Duterte threatens to exit from int’l criminal court

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday threatened to follow in Russia’s footsteps and pull his country out of the International Criminal Court (ICC), incensed at foreign criticism of his deadly drug war.

Russia formally withdrew its signature to the ICC’s founding Rome Statute on Wednesday, calling the tribunal’s work “one-sided and inefficient”.

Speaking in his home town of Davao city in the southern Philippines shortly before flying to Peru for a regional summit, Duterte said: “They (Russians) may have thought the International Criminal Court is (useless), so they withdrew their membership.” 

“I might follow. Why? Because these shameless bullies only picked on small countries like us,” he added.

The Philippines is among 124 countries that are members of the UN-backed ICC, the world’s only permanent war crimes court.

Duterte also repeated an earlier threat to pull the Philippines out of the UN, saying the world body had failed to stop wars that had killed “thousands” of women and children.

“You know if China and Russia would decide to create a new order, I will be the first to join,” he added. Duterte won May elections in a landslide after vowing an unprecedented crackdown on illegal drugs and killing tens of thousands of drug dealers.