(Day 2) 2.) Atty. Jim Arroyo - RA 9851

7/27/2019 (Day 2) 2.) Atty. Jim Arroyo - RA 9851

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“The Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian

Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity”

Enacted December 11, 2009



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

Outline of RA 9851



Some Principles and State Policies

• Renounces war as an instrument of

national policy;

• Values human dignity and guaranteesfull 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”.



• War Crimes or Crimes Against IHL

• Genocide

• Other Crimes Against Humanity

CATEGORIES



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:



Sec. 4(a): Acts in an International ArmedConflict against Protected Persons or Propertyunder the Geneva Conventions of 1949:

1) Willful killing

2) Torture/inhumane treatment

3) Willfully causing great suffering, seriousinjury to body/health4) Extensive/wanton/unlawful destruction/appropriation of property

5) Depriving prisoner of war/other protectedperson a right to fair or regular trial

6) Arbitrary deportation/forcible transfer of

population/unlawful confinement7) Taking of hostages

8) Compelling POW/protected person to servein hostile forces

9) Unjustifiable delay in repatriation of POW/protected persons

WAR CRIMES



Sec. 4(b): Acts Against Protected Persons inNon-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 asindispensable

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



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 objects3) 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 emblemsof 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 andOther 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 participateactively in hostilities



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))

ELEMENTS OF THE CRIME (Section 4)



Who are the persons protected by IHL?

• Civilians, especially children

who are protected from

recruitment/conscription;

• Persons Hors de Combat;

• Prisoners of parties to thearmed 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 thegovernment) alike;

Only a sitting President is immune from prosecution

under this Act, as well as a person specificallygranted immunity by international law, but only inaccordance with the law granting immunity



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.

WHO MAY BE LIABLE FOR WAR

CRIMES?



GENOCIDE

1. Killing; causing serious bodily

or mental harm;

2. Deliberately inflicting on the

group conditions of lifecalculated to bring about its

physical destruction;

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:



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.



• Act is targeted towards ethnic, racial, religious or

similar group

• Act is done with the intention of destroying the

group, whether physically orpsychologically/culturally/emotionally, and not

merely individual members

• Act is any of those enumerated in the law

ELEMENTS OF THE CRIME (Section 5)



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 anyother form of sexual violence.



OTHER CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY 5. Persecution against any

identifiable group based onpolitical, racial, national,ethnic, cultural, religious,gender, sexual orientation or

other grounds;

6. Arbitrary deportation orforcible transfer of population; apartheid;

7. Other inhumane acts of asimilar characterintentionally causing greatphysical or mental sufferingor injury.



• 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

ELEMENTS OF THE CRIME (Sec. 6)



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 crimeresults 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 offensespecific to armed conflict

situations. If death, serious

physical injury, or rape results

from the acts constituting

violations of IHL, the maximumpenalty (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.



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(Day 2) 2.) Atty. Jim Arroyo - RA 9851

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