The arrest of Rodrigo Duterte, who served as president of the Philippines between 2016 and 2022, for crimes against humanity for his part in the country’s violent “war on drugs” is a welcome blow against impunity. Duterte was arrested on March 11 by Interpol, which was carrying out an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) charging him with crimes against humanity.
It’s a step, at least, towards justice for the families of the victims of thousands of extrajudicial killings – maybe tens of thousands. Nobody knows exactly how many.
A key part of Duterte’s campaign platform when he ran for president in 2016 was to combat what he called “the drug menace”. During his previous 22 years as the mayor of Davao city in the province of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, he had operated a similar policy.
