Why ICC would not rule on the SCS case
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Mon, 09 Dec 2019 16:45:44 +0000
THE International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has declined to act on the complaint filed by former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales against China President Xi Jinping and other Beijing officials for alleged crimes against humanity through environmental degradation in China’s artificial island building in the South China Sea (SCS) which also damaged marine life and deprived Filipino fishermen of access to traditional fishing grounds.
The court declined to act on the complaint, saying it has no jurisdiction over the alleged crimes for two reasons:
– China is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty which created the ICC, and is therefore not under ICC’s jurisdiction.
– The Philippines has no sovereignty over the disputed areas, as its territorial sea is limited to two miles from its shores. The alleged crimes may have taken place within the Philippines’ 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) but this is not Philippine territory.
The Philippines has certain rights to development of resources on the continental shelf beneath the EEZ. It has certain prerogatives in immigration, sanitary, and customs enforcement in the area. But the waters of the EEZ themselves are international waters.
This ICC ruling on jurisdiction should straighten out the thinking of many of our own officials today, who think such areas as Panatag or Scarborough Shoal and Reed Bank are parts of Philippine territory and we should, therefore, defend them from encroachment by other nations.
Panatag and Reed Bank are within our Exclusive Economic Zone. Our fishermen have a right to fish at Panatag as it is a traditional fishing ground for fishermen of many nations. We have a right to exploit Reed Bank’s oil and gas resources which we have decided to develop in partnership with China, with a 60-40 division of the expected returns on the venture.
The previous administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III renamed the Philippine EEZ to our west to “West Philippine Sea.” But let us not make the mistake of considering it Philippine territory, with such rights as controlling its use by foreign ships.
The International Criminal Court declined to act on the charges
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