17 December 2015 – Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands Jaime Victor B. Ledda led the Philippine delegation that participated in the 14th session of the Assembly of the States Parties to the Rome Statute, held in The Hague from November 18 to 26. The delegation was composed of representatives from the Philippine Embassy in The Hague and the Permanent Mission in New York.
In his Statement at the plenary last November 19, Ambassador Ledda reiterated the Philippines’ commitment to fighting impunity to ensure that perpetrators of international crimes are punished. He emphasized that “since becoming a founding member of the United Nations seventy years ago, the Philippines has always advocated for the rule of law in support of peace and security, human rights and development.”
Ambassador Ledda also stressed the importance of achieving the Rome Statute’s universality, and joined the call for many more countries to ratify or accede to the Rome Statute, particularly from the Asia-Pacific region. He recalled that the Philippines enacted Republic Act No. 9851 in 2009, or the legislation on Crimes against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity, which paved the way for the Philippine ratification of the Rome Statute.
He also voiced the Philippines’ support to the proposed “Code of Conduct regarding Security Council action against genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes” which calls on the 5 permanent members of the Council to refrain from using their veto in situations involving mass atrocity crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the Court. “It is our common interest to uphold the credibility of both the Court and the Security Council,” Ambassador Ledda stressed.
The Ambassador also took the opportunity to thank once again the States Parties for electing Prof. Dr. Raul Pangalangan as judge of the Court in June this year.
Citing the constitutional policy of the Philippines that recognizes and supports the contribution of civil society to nation building, Ambassador Ledda expressed the view that the civil society also has a role to play in making international criminal justice work. He then invited the delegates to attend the side-event which the Philippines would co-host to discuss more broadly this positive role of the civil society.
On November 20, the Philippine Embassy co-hosted with Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) a side-event titled “Civil Society and the International Criminal Court: Local Perspectives on Fact-Finding,” which tackled different perspectives on how the ICC and States Parties need to support the fact-finding efforts of local NGOs and civil society. Ambassador Ledda and Ms. Rebecca E. Lozada, National Coordinator, Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court (PCICC), co-facilitated the event.
Following presentation by the panelists from civil society groups and international NGOs from Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions, Ambassador Ledda emphasized the need for the civil society and the governments to build trust and confidence, and to cooperate in the field of international criminal justice. END