Wheels of justice: the ICC gets Duterte at last

The International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte

• Duterte was indicted for crimes against humanity, specifically murder, related to his 2016–2022 "war on drugs" which resulted in thousands of deaths without due process.
• He admitted to ordering extrajudicial killings before a congressional committee in November 2024, claiming the policy was an "eye for an eye," with official death tolls at 6,000 but ICC estimates potentially reaching tens of thousands.
• Duterte was transferred to The Hague for trial after his political protection evaporated following a fracture in the dynastic pact between his family and the family of successor President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
• Vice President Sara Duterte resigned from the cabinet in June 2024 after disputes with Marcos, including a November 2024 threat to assassinate him, leading to her impeachment in February 2025; this internal conflict allowed the ICC to proceed.
• The ICC's jurisdiction is limited to crimes committed before the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2019, meaning charges cannot cover the most recent years of his presidency.
• Despite the Philippines' exit from the treaty, Duterte's arrest demonstrates that international accountability is possible when domestic political dynamics shift, though the ICC remains constrained by a lack of enforcement power against non-cooperating states like China, Russia, and the United States.

Escalating gang violence and bombings in Sweden

• Sweden experienced an unprecedented wave of over 30 explosions in the first month of 2025, including a coordinated attack on January 28 where multiple IEDs detonated in Stockholm and Ödökra within a single day.
• Criminal tactics have shifted from inter-gang conflict to the extortion of vulnerable businesses and individuals, utilizing a "pay up or blow up" model similar to 1930s Chicago-style rackets.
• Gangs are increasingly targeting young people aged 13–15, recruiting them online via platforms like Telegram and Snapchat to carry out bombings for payments reported as high as 90,000 euros per job.
• A significant portion of the recruitment targets children with special needs, exploiting their vulnerability to hide explosives, firearms, and illicit cash.
• The surge in violence is partly driven by gangs pivoting away from high-risk street-level drug trade toward fraud and extortion, facilitated by Sweden's open data ecosystem where private citizens' personal information is easily accessible online.
• Police have made dozens of arrests in February, and new legislation allowing wiretapping of children is slated for implementation, alongside efforts to extradite foreign gang leaders.
• The crisis has intensified political debate regarding immigration, with the government and police citing overrepresentation of first- and second-generation migrants in serious crime as a primary driver, prompting a shift toward conservative immigration policies.

Obituary: Athol Fugard, apartheid-era playwright

• Fugard died at age 92, leaving behind a career spanning 70 years and 36 plays that explored the lives of the poor under apartheid and the moral complexities of the regime.
• His work was deeply influenced by a childhood incident where he spat on the face of a black servant named Sam, an act of racial prejudice he spent his life trying to atone for through his writing.
• Fugard's seminal play Blood Knot (1961) was based on his observation of his brother's suffering and depicted two mixed-race brothers to highlight the brutality of racial categorization in South Africa.
• Unlike many activists of his time, Fugard rejected physical resistance, believing that words were a more powerful weapon to penetrate the psyche of oppressors and expose the humanity of the oppressed.
• His writing emphasized the resilience and humor of black South Africans despite systemic oppression, a theme that remained relevant even after the end of apartheid in 1994.
• Post-apartheid, Fugard continued to document societal decay, focusing on how poverty, addiction, and greed perpetuated "pig-sties" of life, while maintaining a belief in the possibility of human redemption.

Forward-looking statements and political context

• The ICC hopes the Duterte prosecution will signal that other world leaders may face consequences for crimes against humanity, though the court's effectiveness remains dependent on the cooperation of successor governments.
• The US remains hostile to the ICC, with former President Trump having announced sanctions in February against ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan for investigating Israeli and Hamas leaders, reinforcing the court's vulnerability to political pressure from major powers.
• In Syria, the departure of the Assad regime has brought relief to many, yet the transition remains unstable with uneven access to freedom and safety across different regions.
• In Sweden, experts warn that focusing solely on immigration and policing may overlook the urgent need to support at-risk youth, potentially leading to further recruitment into criminal networks if social support systems are not strengthened.