Responding to the International Criminal Court confirming all crimes against humanity charges against former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, paving the way for full trial proceedings, the Director of Amnesty International Philippines Ritz Lee Santos said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFamilies of victims and survivors of the \u2018war on drugs\u2019 have waited far too long for justice. The ICC\u2019s confirmation of all charges against former President Duterte is a historic moment for victims and international justice. It sends a clear message that those who are alleged to have committed widespread and systematic murder as a crime against humanity will one day find themselves in the dock, facing trial. Justice may be slow in coming, but it cannot be delayed forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis trial is not about politics. It is about a campaign in which thousands of people were killed in cold blood, and a justice system in the Philippines that has consistently failed them. The ICC is acting because the authorities would not. For years, those responsible for unlawful killings have operated with impunity, but that era is ending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor the survivors and victims\u2019 families who have carried their grief in silence, today affirms that their voices have been heard and their persistence is not in vain. As these proceedings move forward, the international community will bear witness not only to the crimes that Duterte is alleged to have committed, but to the courage of those who never stopped demanding justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe ICC must now ensure victims\u2019 rights to participate in the trial and guarantee that witnesses are protected so that the trial can decide on the allegations facing Duterte. Meanwhile, efforts must stop at nothing to ensure that all those individually responsible for crimes under international law and grave human rights violations are held accountable, whether in the Philippines or at the ICC.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court today decided that former President Duterte should stand trial for all three charges against him of murder and attempted murder as crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March 2025, former President Duterte was arrested by the Philippine government and surrendered to the ICC to face charges of murder and attempted murder as crimes against humanity linked to his government\u2019s so-called \u201cwar on drugs\u201d and previously his time as mayor of Davao City between 2013 and 2016. Duterte\u2019s initial appearance before the Court took place on 14 March 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since his arrest, he has been awaiting trial in ICC custody in the Netherlands. Lawyers for the former President have challenged the Court\u2019s jurisdiction, his ongoing detention and his fitness to stand trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In January 2026, a Pre-Trial Chamber determined, following a review by medical experts, that Duterte is fit to stand trial. On 22 April 2026, the Appeals Chamber confirmed that the Court may exercise jurisdiction over the alleged crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the Duterte administration from 2016 to 2022, thousands of people, mostly from poor and marginalized communities, were unlawfully killed by the police \u2013 or by armed individuals suspected to have links to the police \u2013 as part of the \u201cwar on drugs\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amnesty International has published major investigations detailing extrajudicial executions and other human rights violations by police and their superiors. The organization has determined that the acts committed reach the threshold of crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ICC continues to investigate further potential crimes against humanity, during the \u201cwar on drugs\u201d and by the Davao Death Squad in Davao City while Duterte served as mayor from 2011 to 2016. On 13 February 2026 a \u201cPublic Lesser Redacted Version\u201d of the document containing charges listed eight other persons as co-perpetrators of crimes alongside Duterte. No further arrest warrants have been made public yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Responding to the International Criminal Court confirming all crimes against humanity charges against former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, paving the way for full trial proceedings, the Director of Amnesty International Philippines Ritz Lee Santos said: \u201cFamilies of victims and survivors of the \u2018war on drugs\u2019 have waited far too long for justice. The ICC\u2019s confirmation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":227874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"duterte","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":0,"_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":0,"_trash_the_other_posts":false,"_hero_title":"","_hero_content":"","_hero_cta_text":"","_hero_cta_link":"","_hero_alignment":"","_hero_background":"","_hero_size":"","_hero_show":"","_hero_type":"","_hero_embed":"","_hero_video_id":0,"_hero_hide_image_caption":true,"_hero_hide_image_copyright":false,"_nav_style":"","_disable_share_icons":false,"_disable_sidebar":false,"_display_author_info":false,"_hide_featured_image":false,"_hide_featured_image_caption":true,"_maximize_post_content":false,"_reduce_content_width":false,"_sidebar_id":0,"_stretch_thumbnail":false,"byline_context":"","byline_entity":"","byline_is_author":false,"disable_related_content":false,"download_id":0,"download_text":"","show_published_date":true,"show_updated_date":true,"term_slider":"","amnesty_index_number":"","feature_alt_text":"Rodrigo Duterte attends a hearing via video from the ICC's detention cente","recipients":"","recipients_refresh":"","recipients_refreshed":"","amnesty_umbraco_data":"","document_ref":"","amnesty_updated":"","footnotes":""},"category":[1148],"location":[1697,1825,1710],"resourceType":[2143],"topic":[2100,2099,2118,2119,2066],"class_list":["post-237879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","location-asia-and-the-pacific","location-philippines","location-south-east-asia-and-the-pacific","resource-type-press-release","topic-international-justice","topic-justice-systems","topic-killings-and-disappearances","topic-unlawful-killings","topic-war-crimes-and-crimes-against-humanity"],"datePosted":"23 April 2026","mlpRelationships":{"1":237879,"4":114312},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237879"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237882,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237879\/revisions\/237882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category?post=237879"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=237879"},{"taxonomy":"resource-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resourceType?post=237879"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=237879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":237829,"date":"2026-04-21T17:35:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/?p=237829"},"modified":"2026-04-22T09:46:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:46:24","slug":"eu-failure-to-suspend-eu-israel-association-agreement-shows-contempt-for-civilian-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2026\/04\/eu-failure-to-suspend-eu-israel-association-agreement-shows-contempt-for-civilian-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"EU: Failure to suspend EU-Israel Association Agreement shows contempt for civilian lives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Reacting to the EU\u2019s failure to call for a vote to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement or to agree on any other concrete measures today at the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International\u2019s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt this point, the EU\u2019s decision to maintain its trade agreement with Israel represents a moral failure and illustrates brazen contempt for civilian lives, particularly in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and in Lebanon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne million<\/a> people in Europe, more than 75 NGOs<\/a>, almost 400 former diplomats, UN experts<\/a> as well as Belgium, Ireland, Slovenia and Spain have all called for the immediate suspension of the agreement. Once again, these calls have been disregarded with Germany and Italy playing a key role in blocking the suspension. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This will be remembered as another shameful chapter in one of the most disgraceful moments in the EU\u2019s history.<\/p>\nErika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlmost a year ago, the EU found that Israel\u2019s crimes under international law against Palestinians violate<\/a> the agreement\u2019s human rights clause. Since then, Israel has continued to cross every single EU red line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDecades of impunity afforded to Israel by the international community, including the EU, have only emboldened it to escalate its violations of international humanitarian law. This is evidenced by Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza, its ongoing unlawful occupation of the whole OPT, the system of apartheid imposed against all Palestinians whose rights it controls and its new death penalty law, which will in practice apply exclusively<\/a> to Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSince the so-called ceasefire in Gaza in October 2025, which the EU has used to justify its inaction, over 740 Palestinians have been killed as Israeli air strikes, shelling and cruel blockade persist. In Lebanon, Israeli forces have killed and wounded thousands of people, including healthcare workers, and have displaced more than a million people since the re-escalation of hostilities with Hezbollah on 2 March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe EU must not again use fragile ceasefires as an excuse to give Israel yet another free pass. Each delay only further entrenches impunity and paves the way for further grave human rights violations. EU member states must urgently take matters into their own hands and unilaterally suspend all forms of cooperation with Israel that may contribute to its grave violations of international law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At today\u2019s foreign affairs council, EU ministers failed to agree on any concrete measures, once again delaying meaningful action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement is one of many concrete steps the EU can and must take to bring an end to Israel\u2019s violations and its own risk of complicity in them. The EU should also bring its actions in line with international law by banning trade with Israel\u2019s illegal settlements in the OPT<\/a>, a call long supported by Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain<\/a>, recently joined by France and Sweden<\/a>. Until then, member states must adopt national bans on trade with settlements. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n