Philippines govt gives official notice to UN it will quit Intl Criminal Court

The Philippines has given official notice to the UN that it will exit the treaty underpinning the International Criminal Court, the government said Friday. The ICC is looking into President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war. The move comes two days after Duterte announced his nation would quit the court over its preliminary inquiry launched last month into allegations his crackdown on narcotics amounts to crimes against humanity, AFP said. The Philippines on Thursday said in a letter to the UN, which oversaw negotiations to found the court, that it was pulling out of the Rome Statute. “The decision to withdraw is the Philippines’ principled stand against those who would politicize and weaponize human rights,” according to the letter.