“License to Kill”

IV. Criminal Responsibility of President Duterte and
Senior Government Officials
Legal Bases for Criminal Responsibility
The alleged extrajudicial executions of thousands of suspected drug dealers and users in
the Philippines needs to be viewed in the context of Rodrigo Duterte’s election to the
presidency and his repeated calls during the campaign and since taking office threatening
those involved with illegal drugs with death. Even if not directly involved in any specific
operations to summarily execute any specific individual, President Duterte appears to
have instigated unlawful acts by the police, incited citizens to commit serious violence,
and made himself criminal liable under international law for the unlawful killings as a
matter of command responsibility. Other senior leaders of his administration have likewise
made themselves criminally culpable for their alleged complicity in unlawful killings.
International law holds an individual
criminally responsible if they plan,
instigate, order commit or otherwise aid
and abet a criminal offense. 266 Instigating
means prompting another to commit an
offense that is actually committed. 267 A
causal link between the act of instigation
“
If I want to, and if it will
deteriorate into something
really very virulent, I will declare
martial law if I want to. No one
can stop me.”
―Rodrigo Duterte, January 14, 2017
and the commission of a particular crime
266 See, e.g., Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Res. 827, adopted May 25, 1993,
http://www.icty.org/x/file/Legal%20Library/Statute/statute_sept09_en.pdf, art. 7(1); Statute of the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), United National Security Council, Resolution 955 (1994), http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Professional
Interest/Pages/StatuteInternationalCriminalTribunalForRwanda.aspx, art. 6(1).
267 See, e.g., ICTY, Prosecutor v. Dario Kordić and Mario Čerkez, Case No. IT-95-14/2-A, Appeals Chamber, December 17,
2004, http://www.icty.org/x/cases/kordic_cerkez/ acjug/en/cer-aj041217e.pdf, para. 27; ICTR, Prosecutor v. Ferdinand
Nahimana, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, and Hassan Ngeze, Case No. ICTR-99-52-A, Appeals Chamber, November 28, 2007,
http://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/pdf/NAHIMANA%20ET%20AL%20-%20APPEALS%20JUDGEMENT.pdf, para.
480. Unlike the crime of direct and public incitement, instigation does not give rise to criminal responsibility unless the
crime is ultimately committed. ICTR, Prosecutor v. Jean Mpambara, Case No. ICTR-01-65-T, Trial Chamber I, September 11,
2006, http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/instree/ICTR/MPAMBARA_ICTR-01-65/MPAMBARA_ICTR-01-65-T.pdf, para. 18.
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