Statement
August 13, 2025
The Philippine government is once again attempting to whitewash its rotten record of violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by hosting an Asia Pacific regional conference on the topic from 11 to 14 August 2025 in Makati City. The Marcos Jr government is currently hosting the conference in an attempt to clean up its international image – seeking the prize of a UN Security Council seat.
The conference is convened by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) with the support of the odious Inter-Agency Committee on International Humanitarian Law (IAC-IHL). The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is co-convening the conference, in spite of the internationally recognized IHL violations of the Marcos Jr government.
According to the Philippine government’s press release for the event, the Philippines has “consistently been a champion of IHL, especially in respecting its principles and ensuring its application throughout the world.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
The US and Marcos Jr governments continue to strategically whitewash the Philippines’ IHL crimes, all while civil war and US-led counter-insurgency policy continue and intensify in many areas of the country. The Filipino people and the international community have repeatedly exposed these crimes, especially in 2024 when victims of war crimes under Duterte and Marcos Jr testified at an International People’s Tribunal in Brussels which found both regimes guilty of war crimes.
The Marcos Jr government created the Inter-Agency Committee on International Humanitarian Law (IAC-IHL) in February 2025. The committee was charged as the national body for IHL promotion. According to ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy, “the IAC-IHL is window dressing and an attempt to put a cloak of legitimacy over the war crimes of the Marcos government.”
It is despicable that the Philippine government calls itself “a champion of IHL” when it is actively bombing civilian communities in Mindoro and Luzon and preventing the proper burial of a farmer, Juan Sumilhig, extrajudicially killed under the guise of “counter-insurgency.”
Just this week, farmer organizations in the Philippines, including the Philippine Peasant Movement (KMP) and Tanggol Magsasaka (Defend Peasants), supported the filing of four resolutions from the Makabayan Bloc directing the House Committee on Human Rights to investigate alleged grave human rights violations and breaches of IHL in Southern Tagalog, the Cordillera and Ilocos regions, and Negros provinces.
ICHRP notes that the Philippines withdrew from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2018, and since then President Marcos Jr has kept the country from being part of the global court. Duterte withdrew to evade responsibility for IHL violations taking place as a result of his murderous drug war, ethnic cleansing in Marawi, and war on dissent. If the Philippines were serious about IHL, they would belong to the ICC – the world’s only permanent institution for investigating and prosecuting genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.
The true champions of IHL in the Philippines are the people. Peasants, indigenous people, workers, women, human rights advocates, and lawyers in the Philippines have relentlessly campaigned, in the face of state violence, for justice for the victims of IHL violations. Despite the lack of response from Philippine courts and the ongoing attempts to intimidate activists, Filipino human rights groups continue to seek justice for Randy Echanis, Jude Fernandez, Juan Sumilhig, and many other civilians who have been killed at the hands of state forces.
ICHRP stands with the true champions of IHL in the Philippines, and those who advocate for real solutions to the armed conflict that will put an end to IHL violations – not those who seek favor with the international community with blatant lies about their record on IHL. #
