International Criminal Court (ICC) -accredited counsel and CenterLaw Philippines chairperson Joel Butuyan earlier this week denounced what he called a “grave injustice” in the proposal made by lawyer Nicholas Kaufman, who represents former President Rodrigo Duterte in the ongoing ICC proceedings related to the war on drugs.
Butuyan raised alarm over Kaufman’s suggestion to require government-issued IDs, such as passports or driver’s licenses, from victims seeking recognition before the ICC. He said such a requirement disregards the dire socioeconomic condition of many victims of the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign.
“The kind of IDs being demanded by Mr. Kaufman are documents that are… unavailable to victims who wallow in poverty,” Butuyan said. “His proposal fails to recognize that the victims come from the poorest of the poor who often do not have passports, driver’s licenses, and other identity documents.”
Butuyan argued that the victims’ families, many of whom are grieving the loss of loved ones killed in anti-drug operations, are being subjected to a second round of injustice by being excluded due to technicalities.
“The victims’ families have already lost loved ones. For them to be refused recognition as victims of the murderous Mr. Duterte because of their lack of government-issued IDs is to make them suffer grave injustice twice over,” he added.
In his April 7 filing, Kaufman urged the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I to require victims to submit a national ID or a passport with a recent photograph.
If such documents are unavailable, he proposed implementing stricter rules on what forms of identification may be accepted to verify victims of the drug war.
Kaufman argued that narrowing the scope of acceptable IDs would “improve the reliability” of verifying identities and “greatly minimize the potential for fraud.”
Kaufman had also proposed that the ICC’s Office of Public Counsel for Victims (OPCV) serve as the sole representative of the victims for the time being, while a process of finalizing “common legal representation” is underway.
Butuyan strongly opposed this move, accusing Kaufman of attempting to control who gets to represent the victims in the ICC proceedings—an action he said is both unethical and offensive.
“It is totally abhorrent that Mr. Duterte, speaking through Mr. Kaufman, wants his choice to be followed on who should stand as representative of the very people he mass murdered,” Butuyan said. “No, Mr. Kaufman, the victims must have the say on who should speak for them, and not you who speaks for the mass murderer.”
The ICC is currently conducting proceedings on the alleged crimes against humanity committed under Duterte’s controversial drug war, which has left thousands dead. Victims and their families have been encouraged to participate in the process. Still, questions over documentation and legal representation have surfaced as key challenges in ensuring justice.
Butuyan urged the ICC to “listen to the voices of the victims themselves” and ensure that procedural requirements do not become barriers to justice. (TCSP)
