ON March 16, 2018, when Rodrigo Roa Duterte was president, the Philippines formally submitted to the United Nations its Notice of Withdrawal from the Rome Statute. The legality of the Philippine withdrawal from the treaty which created the International Criminal Court (ICC) was questioned.
Before the ICC was established, ad hoc tribunals were created in order to punish unforgivable crimes. For example, the Nuremberg Tribunal tried German war criminals in World War 2; the International Military Tribunal for the Far East brought to justice Japanese war criminals; the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and other ad hoc tribunals hauled to court those who committed crimes that targeted mankind. To solve the problem of creating international tribunals, the International Law Commission submitted to the UN General Assembly the draft of the Rome Statute. After revisions and numerous discussions, the General Assembly adopted it in 1998.
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