“The Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian

Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity”

Enacted December 11, 2009

 Outline of RA 9851
1. Some Principles and State Policies
2. Crimes against IHL, Genocide and Other Crimes
against Humanity
3. Who may be liable for crimes against R.A.
9851?
4. No Immunity
5. Entitlement of Victims
Some Principles and State Policies

• Renounces war as an instrument of

national policy;

• Values human dignity and guarantees

full respect for human rights;

• Adheres to a policy of peace, equality,

justice, freedom, cooperation and
amity with all nations;

• Adopts the generally accepted

principles in international law.;
Some Principles and State Policies

• Ends impunity for perpetrators of

crimes against IHL;

• Guarantees a fair and prompt trial for

those accused of crimes against IHL;

• Does not affect the legal status of the

parties to a conflict nor does it give an
implied recognition of the “status of
belligerency”.
 CATEGORIES

• War Crimes or Crimes Against IHL

• Genocide
• Other Crimes Against Humanity
WAR CRIMES
• In case of a non-international armed conflict, serious
violations of Article 3 to the four (4) Geneva
Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the
following acts committed against persons taking no
active part in the hostilities, including members of
the armed forces who have laid down their arms and
those place hors de combat by sickness, wounds,
detention or any other cause:
 WAR CRIMES
Sec. 4(a): Acts in an International Armed
Conflict against Protected Persons or Property
under the Geneva Conventions of 1949:
1) Willful killing
2) Torture/inhumane treatment
3) Willfully causing great suffering, serious
injury to body/health
4) Extensive/wanton/unlawful destruction/
appropriation of property
5) Depriving prisoner of war/other protected
person a right to fair or regular trial
6) Arbitrary deportation/forcible transfer of
population/unlawful confinement
7) Taking of hostages
8) Compelling POW/protected person to serve
in hostile forces
9) Unjustifiable delay in repatriation of
POW/protected persons
 WAR CRIMES
Sec. 4(b): Acts Against Protected Persons in
Non-International Armed Conflict:
1) Violence to life/person (willful killings,
torture, mutilation cruel treatment)
2) Outrages on personal dignity (humiliating
and degrading treatment)
3) Taking of hostages
4) Passing of sentences and carrying out of
executions without previous judgment by a
regularly constituted court, affording all judicial
guarantees which are generally recognized as
indispensable
 WAR CRIMES
Sec. 4(c): Other Serious Violations of Law and
Customs in Armed Conflict, within Framework
of International Law:
1) Intentional attacks against the following:
a)Civilian population/individual civilians
b) Civilian objects
c) Buildings, material, medical units and
transport, using emblems of Geneva
Conventions
d) Personnel, installations, material, units or
vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance
or peacekeeping mission in accordance with UN
Charter
 WAR CRIMES
2) Launching an attack:
a) Knowing it will cause death or injury to
civilians or damage to civilian objects, or long-
term, severe environmental damage
disproportionate to projected military
advantage.
b) Against works or installations containing
dangerous forces (e.g. power plants)
containing dangerous forces knowing that this
will cause excessive loss of life, injury to
civilians or damage to civilian objects
3) Attacking or bombarding undefended
towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which
are not military objectives, or making non-
defended localities of demilitarized zones the
object of attack.
 WAR CRIMES
4) Killing/wounding persons even when
knowing they are hors de combat, including
those who have surrendered
5) Making improper use of flag of truce, flag
of military insignia or uniform of the enemy
or of the United Nations, or of the emblems
of the Geneva Convention or other
protective signs under IHL, resulting in
death, serious personal injury or capture
(Section 12 of Republic Act No. 10530
prohibits the misuse of the Red Cross and
Other emblems in times of armed conflict,
specifically the use of the emblem in order
to capture, neutralize or kill an adversary )
 WAR CRIMES
10) Intentionally attacking buildings dedicated to religion, education, art,
science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals or place
where sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military
objectives. In case of doubt, the presumption should always be against
launching the attack.
11) Subjecting captives to physical mutilation or medical experimentation.
12) Killing, wounding, capturing an adversary through perfidy
13) Declaring that no quarter will be given
14) Destroying or seizing an enemy’s property unless such destruction
/seizure is imperative by the needs of war
15) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assualt
16) Ordering displacement of civilian population due to the conflict,
unless the security of civilians involved or imperative military reasons so
demand
 WAR CRIMES
17) Transferring, directly or indirectly by the occupying power (in an
international conflict) of parts of its own civilian population into the
territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the
population of the occupied territory
18) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy,
enforced sterilization, other forms of sexual violence
19) Using presence of civilians/protected persons to render points, areas
or forces immune from military operations
20) Starving civilians, depriving them of relief supplies
21) In an international armed conflict, compelling nationals of the hostile
part to take part in military operations of war against their own country
22) In an international armed conflict, declaring abolished, suspended or
inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the
hostile parties
 WAR CRIMES
23) Any of the following acts:
a) Recruiting, conscripting, or enlisting
children under fifteen (15) years of age
into national armed forces
b) Recruiting, conscripting or enlisting
children, or all persons under eighteen
(18) years of age into an armed force or
group other than the national armed
forces;
c) Using children, or all persons under
eighteen (18) years of age to participate
actively in hostilities
ELEMENTS OF THE CRIME (Section 4)

TWO CONSTANT ELEMENTS:

• Perpetrator belongs to armed forces of the state or an organized armed
group as defined in the law (non-state actors)
• Act takes place in the context of an armed conflict as defined in the law
VARIABLE ELEMENTS:
• The act is committed against a protected person or object in the context
of an international armed conflict and enumerated by law (Section 4(a))
• The act is committed against a protected person o r object in the
context of a non-international armed conflict and enumerated by law
(Section 4(b))
• The act is a serious violation of law or custom in armed conflict, as
defined by international law and enumerated by the law(Section 4(c))
Who are the persons protected by IHL?

• Civilians, especially children

who are protected from
recruitment/conscription;
• Persons Hors de Combat;
• Prisoners of parties to the
armed conflict, or persons who
have surrendered;
• Medical, Humanitarian
missions;
• Religious Personnel of armed
forces, provided this is their
exclusive function;
• Combatants under Sec. 4(c)
State actors (AFP, PNP) AND non-state actors (CPP-
NPA-NDF or other rebel groups recognized by the
government) alike;
Only a sitting President is immune from prosecution
under this Act, as well as a person specifically
granted immunity by international law, but only in
accordance with the law granting immunity
 WHO MAY BE LIABLE FOR WAR
CRIMES?
Command Responsibility:
1) A superior may be held criminally liable for the actions of his/her
subordinates if:
• The superior either knew or was in a position to know that the
crime was being or about to be committed;
• That superior failed to prevent the commission or to have the
matter investigated or prosecuted by the competent authorities
after its commission
2) A subordinate may be held criminally liable for his actions unless:
• The person was under a legal obligation to obey orders of the
government or the superior in question;
• The person did not know that the order was unlawful; and the
order was not manifestly unlawful.
GENOCIDE
 An act or acts intended to destroy, in whole or in part,
a national, ethnic, racial, religious, social or any other
similar stable and permanent group:

1. Killing; causing serious bodily

or mental harm;

2. Deliberately inflicting on the

group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its
physical destruction;
GENOCIDE
3. Preventing childbirths;

4. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another

group.

 It shall be unlawful for any person to directly

and publicly incite others to commit genocide.
ELEMENTS OF THE CRIME (Section 5)

• Act is targeted towards ethnic, racial, religious or

similar group
• Act is done with the intention of destroying the
group, whether physically or
psychologically/culturally/emotionally, and not
merely individual members
• Act is any of those enumerated in the law
Distinction from War Crimes
• Act can be perpetrated by ANYONE,
not limited to state actors or non-
state actors from organized groups,
or to ANY particular context such as
armed conflict
• Inciting others to commit any of the
acts constituting genocide is
punishable by itself, even without
the acts of genocide having been
committed
OTHER CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
 Any of the following acts committed as part of a
widespread or systematic attack directed against
any civilian population:
OTHER CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
1. Willful killing; extermination;
enforced or involuntary
disappearance of persons;
2. Imprisonment; enslavement;
3. Torture;
4. Rape, sexual slavery, enforced
prostitution, forced pregnancy,
enforced sterilization, or any
other form of sexual violence.
OTHER CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

5. Persecution against any

identifiable group based on
political, racial, national,
ethnic, cultural, religious,
gender, sexual orientation or
other grounds;
6. Arbitrary deportation or
forcible transfer of
population; apartheid;
7. Other inhumane acts of a
similar character
intentionally causing great
physical or mental suffering
or injury.
ELEMENTS OF THE CRIME (Sec. 6)

• The act is directed any portion of the civilian

population as part of a widespread, systematic
attack;
• The act is among those enumerated by law.
• Perpetrator may be anyone
Distinction from War Crimes
• Act can be perpetrated by ANYONE,
not limited to state actors or non-
state actors from organized groups
• Context is not in armed conflict but
rather a systematic or widespread
attack against any civilian population,
which may or may not be done in an
armed conflict situation
PENALTIES
• Violations of Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the law shall be punishable
by Reclusion Temporal in its medium to maximum period and
a fine ranging from One Hundred Thousand Pesos
(P100,000.00) to Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (P500,000.00)
• When justified by extreme gravity, especially where the crime
results in death, serious physical injury, or may be considered
rape, and considering the circumstances of the accused, the
penalty imposed shall be Reclusion Perpetua and a fine
ranging from Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (P500,000.00) to
One Million Pesos (P1,000,000.00)
• There shall be corresponding accessory penalties when the
offender is a public officer.
• Protection during the prosecution of such
offenses
• Reparations from the perpetrator
Some Practices covered by IHL

• Killing of Civilians;

• Destruction of Civilian Property;

• Recruitment of children;

• Displacement of persons.
• Violation of IHL is an offense
specific to armed conflict
situations. If death, serious
physical injury, or rape results
from the acts constituting
violations of IHL, the maximum
penalty (reclusion perpetua) may
be imposed and the offense may
be considered non-bailable.

• Violation of IHL cannot be

absorbed in the crime of rebellion
as, precisely, it takes place in the
context of armed conflict.
Notable Features of the Law

• This law, unlike many other human-rights-related

laws, may be applied to state or non-state actors
• The law aggressively pushes for the protection of
the complaining victims and their witnesses
• Prescription does not apply to any of the
offenses under this law.
CONTACT US

6F Obispado de Cubao Bldg. #41 Lantana St. Cubao, QC, 1111

33
http://www.facebook.com/GPHMC

grpmonitoring@yahoo.com

(02) 725-4621 (02) 725-3430