German’s diplomat in Manila on Tuesday, April 16, called on the Marcos administration to rejoin the International Criminal Court (ICC) and cooperate with its ongoing probe on former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
German Ambassador to the Philippines German Pfaffernoschke made the appeal as Marcos refused to hand over Duterte to the international court, which already rolled out its investigation into the latter’s deadly campaign.
“Joining the Rome Statute again would be, from our point of view, the ideal decision of the government,” Pfaffernoschke said at an event with the media.
The envoy said he is not expecting that the government would do it very soon, but he is hopeful for that to happen.
Germany takes pride in being a champion of human rights.
It recently noted the Marcos administration’s efforts to improve human rights, which worsened under the Duterte administration, which made the Philippines to be qualified again to become European Union (EU) General Scheme of Preferences (GSP+) beneficiary.
On Monday, April 15, Marcos said he still would not hand over Duterte to ICC as the country's judiciary and law enforcement remain robust.
“That’s a no," the President said when asked if he would turn over his predecessor to the ICC."We don’t recognize the warrant that they will send to us," he added.