Jurisdiction and enforcement: the ICC’s Duterte judgment in context

Bagheri, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9398-8067 (2026) Jurisdiction and enforcement: the ICC’s Duterte judgment in context. Chinese Journal of International Law, 25 (2). jmag014. ISSN 1540-1650 doi: 10.1093/chinesejil/jmag014

Abstract/Summary

On 11 March 2025, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport and transferred to the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC, or the Court) the following day. On 7 March 2025, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I issued a warrant (ICC, Pre-Trial Chamber I, Warrant of Arrest, ICC-01/21, 7 March 2025, hereinafter, Duterte Warrant) for Mr. Duterte under Article 58(1) of the Rome Statute, in the case of the Situation in the Republic of the Philippines. The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Duterte bears individual criminal responsibility as an indirect co-perpetrator for the crime against humanity of murder, committed between November 2011 and March 2019 in the context of his so-called “war on drugs”, first as Mayor of Davao City and subsequently as President of the Republic (Duterte Warrant, paras. 16-26). The confirmation-of-charges hearing proceeded in February 2026, and on 23 April 2026, Pre-Trial Chamber I confirmed all charges against Mr. Duterte and committed him to trial, finding sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that he bears criminal responsibility for the crimes alleged (Pre-Trial Chamber I, ICC-01/21-01/25-417-Red, 23 April 2026). On 22 April 2026, the Appeals Chamber delivered its judgment on the Defence’s challenge to the Court’s jurisdiction (ICC-01/21-01/25-415, 22 April 2026, hereinafter, the Jurisdiction Judgment), upholding jurisdiction by majority and confirming that the case will proceed. This contribution examines the Jurisdiction Judgment — the first occasion on which the ICC Appeals Chamber has directly resolved the effect of a State Party’s withdrawal on the Court’s jurisdiction over an ongoing situation — and critically analyses its reasoning and implications.