ICC and ASEAN: Weakening or Strengthening National Criminal Justice System?

Abstract

The objective of the establishment of the International Criminal Court by the Rome Statute 1998 is to achieve global justice. The spirit to end impunity established the ICC to respond to four previous criminal tribunals that have been criticized as victor’s justice and selective justice. The ICC has material jurisdiction on the four most serious crimes: crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. These crimes can be committed in any part of the world, including Southeast Asia. The latest case was crimes against humanity that lead to genocide of the Rohingya people in Myanmar, not to mention extra judicial killings as a policy of drugs war and towards journalist in the Philippines. However, none of the case has been brought to justice. In view of that, this study examined challenges and opportunities toward the implementation of Rome Statute 1998 in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, it also observed possible impacts in implementing Rome Statute 1998 in Southeast Asia. The existing national legal instruments related to ICC can support the implementation of Rome Statute 1998 in Southeast Asia and achieve the objective of ICC to end impunity and to reach global justice. Nevertheless, challenges come from the governments of Southeast Asian states. They are reluctant to bring justice and fear that ICC can violate national sovereignty. Interestingly, the Philippines just withdrew itself as a state party to ICC since 2018. Based on the basic principle of complementarity, the ICC is proposed to strengthening national criminal justice of a state. Therefore, the ICC should not be considered as a threat to national sovereignty of a state.