“License to Kill”

Those in a position of command can be held criminally responsible for failing to prevent
crimes against humanity by those under their command, or to submit the matter for
prosecution when they knew or should have known about the crimes. 285 Because crimes
against humanity are considered crimes of universal jurisdiction, all states are responsible
for bringing to justice those who commit crimes against humanity.
To determine whether the attack satisfies either or both requirements of a “widespread” or
“systematic” attack vis-à-vis this civilian population, factors include the “consequences of
the attack upon the targeted population, the number of victims, the nature of the acts, the
possible participation of officials or authorities or any identifiable patterns of crimes.” 286 It
is also important to consider:
The existence of an acknowledged policy targeting a particular community,
the establishment of parallel institutions meant to implement this policy, the
involvement of high-level political or military authorities, the employment of
considerable financial, military or other resources and the scale or the
repeated, unchanging and continuous nature of the violence committed
against a particular civilian population are among the factors which may
demonstrate the widespread or systematic nature of an attack. 287
Responsibility of President Duterte
Even prior to announcing his candidacy for the May 2016 presidential election, Duterte
made it clear that as president he would apply nationwide the abusive “crime control”
tactics he had deployed as Davao City mayor. 288 At a May 22, 2015 public rally in Davao
City before he was officially a candidate, he made a blunt warning:
285 Rome Statute, art. 28.
286 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovač, and Zoran Voković, Case No. IT-96-23 and IT-96-23-1A, Appeals
Chamber, June 12, 2002, http://www.icty.org/x/cases/kunarac/acjug/en/kun-aj020612e.pdf, para. 95.
287 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Goran Jelisić, Case No. IT-95-10-T, Trial Chamber, December 14, 1999,
http://www.icty.org/x/cases/jelisic/tjug/en/jel-tj991214e.pdf, para. 53.
288 Pia Ranada, “Dissecting and weighing Duterte's anti-crime strategy,” Rappler, May 7, 2016,
http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/131871-duterte-anti-crime-strategy-assessment.
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