Global Coalition Calls for International Criminal Court Intervention in the Philippines –

Action All the More Critical as Philippines Threatens ICC Withdrawal

New York City (December 14, 2017) – As Philippine Government sponsored mass killings top 13,000, a global coalition of NGOs and advocates say International Criminal Court (ICC) intervention is urgent following the Philippine governments denials and threats to withdraw from the ICC. The coalition released an open sign on letter addressed to ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda urging her to investigate the Duterte Regime for Crimes Against Humanity.

“The Duterte Regime is protecting those carrying out the President’s orders for mass killings and the threat to withdraw from the ICC is clearly an attempt to avoid prosecution for Crimes Against Humanity, while the killings continue” said Randy Thompson, CEO of Help Not Handcuffs, Inc., the organization coordinating the effort. Duterte spokesman Harry Roque stated at the ICC’s Assembly of State Parties taking place at the U.N. Headquarters in New York City, that the government is protecting human rights and will withdraw from the ICC if it moves forward with charges of Crimes Against Humanity.

There have been 13,000 extrajudicial killings in the 18 months following President Duterte’s election and his announcements of a national plan to kill people involved with drugs. The letter substantiates the need for immediate ICC action by satisfying the ICC’s Jurisdiction, Admissibility and Reasonable Basis criteria as dictated by the Rome Statute, which governs the ICC.

The open letter can be viewed by clicking here.

Organizations and advocates who wish to add their names to the open-letter can do so by emailing Info@HelpNotHandcuffs.org. The letter will be updated and transmitted to the Office of the Prosecutor on a rolling basis. Endorsers of the letter to the ICC Prosecutor to stop the mass killings in the Philippines are listed below:

Organizations

A New PATH (Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing)

Action De Chrétiens Activistes Des Droits De L’homme A Shabunda (ACADHOSHA)

akzept e.V., Bundesverband für akzeptierende Drogenarbeit und humane Drogenpolitik (Germany)

Andean Information Network

APCASO (Thailand)

Asia Catalyst

Asian Network of People Who Use Drugs (ANPUD)

Asociación Costarricense de Estudios e Intervención en Drogas (ACEID)

Asociación Feminista laCuerda – Guatemala

Assonabis

Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL)

Bad Ass Teachers Association

Barreau Penal International Criminal Bar (BPI-ICB)

BOOM!Health (New York)

Brazilian Harm Reduction and Human Rights Network

Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research

Centro Brasileiro de Política de Drogas – Psicotrpicus

Broken No More

Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Chicago Recovery Alliance

Clergy for a New Drug Policy

Colectivo Ecológico Madreselva – Guatemala

Comisión Mexicana de Defensa

Corruption Brakes Crusade (COBRA)

Death Penalty Focus

Denver Relief Consulting (Business)

Drug Policy Alliance

EADUMC (Ethio Africa Diaspora Union Millennium Council)

El Centro de Orientación e Investigación Integral (COIN)

Empire State NORML (the New York State Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws)

FAAAT (Foundation for Alternative Approaches to Addiction, Think & do tank)

Families for Sensible Drug Policy

Filipino American Human Rights Alliance (FAHRA)

Forum Droghe

Harm Reduction Australia

Help Not Handcuffs, Inc.

Health Poverty Action

Human Rights Centre

Human Rights Information Center (Ukraine)

Humanas Colombia

Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo

Humboldt State University, Institute for Harm Reduction

ICEERS Foundation

Institute for Policy Studies Drug Policy Project

International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP)

International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC)

International Network of People who use Drugs (INPUD)

Latinoamérica Reforma

Law Enforcement Action Partnership

Marijuana Policy Project

MENANPUD (Middle East & North African Network for People who Use Drugs)

Moms Stop the Harm

Moms United to End the War on Drugs

Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies

mumsDU – moms united and mandated to saving the lives of Drug Users (Canada)

Museo Memoria y Tolerancia

NAMA North Carolina

National Advocates for Pregnant Women

National Association of Social Workers (NASW)

New Zealand Drug Foundation

Newsweed.fr

NGO Advocacy Advisory

November Coalition

NSW Users and AIDS Association (NUAA)

Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates

Philippine Human Rights Information Center

Promoción de los Derechos Humanos A.C.

Quad Cities Harm Reduction (Iowa)

Release (UK)

Seattle HEMPFEST®

Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC)

St. Ann’s Corner of Harm Reduction (Bronx, New York)

StopTheDrugWar.org

Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Students for Sensible Drug Policy Australia

SURUWAT (Nepal)

The African Federation Association-AFA WFM UGANDA

The Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition

The Beckley Foundation

The Center for Harm Reduction Therapy (San Francisco)

The Community Health Outreach Work to Prevent AIDS Project (Honolulu)

The Drug Salvation Foundation

The Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation

Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago

Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA – International Association of Lawyers)

United States Alliance of Drug Users

Urban Survivor’s Union

Urban Survivors Union (Piedmont, Washington and Seattle chapters)

Vicente Sederberg LLC (Business)

Virginians Against Drug Violence

Vision GRAM-International

Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network

Advocates

Arild Knutsen, head of The Association for Humane Drug Policy, Norway

Attorney Jude Sabio

Brett Wolfson-Stofko, PhD

Post-Doctoral Fellow

Behavioral Sciences Training Program

Caroline S. Conzelman, Ph.D.,

Senior Instructor, University of Colorado – Boulder

Board of Directors, Andean Information Network, Bolivia

Charles M. Giattino

PhD Candidate, Neuroscience

Duke University

Donna May

For/mumsDU-moms united and mandated to saving the lives of Drug Users

Dr. Alex Wodak AM

President, Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation

Eric Lachica, Filipino American Advocate

James E. Gierach, former Assistant State’s Attorney of Cook County, Homicide Unit

John Washburn,

American NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court

(Information provided for identification only.)

Kayvan Khalatbari, Founding Partner, Denver Relief Consulting

Norm Stamper, Seattle Chief of Police (Ret.)

Paul Benhaim, Hemp Foods Australia

Mr. Robert Suarez