Crimes against humanity

Even as now, with full accommodations being granted to Beijing by our government, we continue to be faced with unlawful actions from our northern neighbor, a modern day goliath, whose intentions and activities are to force a doctrine of dominance and control on our region and beyond.

Notwithstanding our 2016 Philippine victory at The Hague which clarified our entitlements in the South China Sea, Beijing continues to commit atrocious actions including illegal dredging and artificial island building, thereby resulting in, among other things, a degraded marine environment that has negatively impacted on the livelihood and significantly diminished the food security of our fishermen and their families, not to mention all of us who are part of the consuming public.

Today, our Filipino countrymen are increasingly focused on the presence of hundreds of Chinese vessels operating around Pag-asa that serves to harass, bully, and persecute our fishermen.

To our poor fishermen, however, Beijing’s actions may be viewed as crimes against humanity, given that they are planned by the Chinese government, accepted by the Chinese government, and nothing is done by the Chinese government to stop these persistent inhumane actions against a civilian population of over 300,000 Filipino fishermen who appear helpless against a powerful goliath.

We believe that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a legal platform for us Filipino citizens to exact accountability for the injustices being particularly endured by our poor fishermen.

Our objective therefore is to hold as individually responsible President Xi Jinping, Foreign Secretary Wang Yi and Ambassador Zhao Jianhua for crimes against humanity committed against our fishermen in our territory during the period when the Philippines was a state party to the Rome Statute (1 Nov. 2011 – 17 March 2019). — Amb. Albert del Rosario and Ret. Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales