In ICC jail, crimes against humanity suspects like Duterte crave native food

The detention center of the International Criminal Court (ICC) inside the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague is, as Filipinos joke, better than some of their apartments. The food menu, however, has been found to be wanting by past and present detainees craving for their native food.

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, accused of crimes against humanity by murder, has been able to eat rice, said his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte. “I know he has preferences for food, and he said, ‘Yes, my only complaint is I really, really miss Filipino food,'” Sara told reporters in The Hague on March 14, after a visit to her father.

Duterte’s first craving, according to Sara, is the Visayan household staple inun-unan or fish stewed in vinegar. Duterte had made an initial appearance on March 14, and is scheduled for a confirmation of charges hearing on September 23.

Food inside the ICC detention center is microwavable “pre-prepared and packaged cold meals,” according to some filings with the court. The ICC’s Registry says the food served to detainees “satisfies, in quality and quantity, the standards of dietetics and modern hygiene,” and which considers their age and health.

But there has been a complaint that the prepared meals “are too sweet; too dry and lacking in sauce; and lacking in variety,” according to a filing by Alfred Yekatom, a rebel leader of the Central African Republic (CAR). He is accused of crimes against humanity by murder, and war crimes by mutilation, for allegedly commandeering a squad that killed, tortured, and detained thousands.

ICC. Former Philippine executive secretary Salvador Medialdea lawyers for Rodrigo Duterte in his first appearance via video link at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Photo courtesy of the ICC

“Likewise, the manner in which the pre-cooked meals are served — i.e. cold, for the detainees to re-heat in the microwave — is culturally alien to Mr Yekatom and therefore comprises a culturally inappropriate manner of distributing food,” said the filing. Yekatom is one of five African detainees in the compound; Duterte is the sixth and only Asian.

ICC detainees are able to cook their own food, with items that they select from the ICC’s shopping list. This was the ICC’s workaround when detainees found they were not satisfied with Dutch and other European food. A Dutch meal is typically a plate of meat, potato and vegetable — which may be considered bland for the Filipino and African taste.

“They can purchase additional items, listed on the shopping list of the Detention Centre, as available, in order for them to adjust the meals provided to them, according to their taste and cultural requirements,” said the ICC.

“Drinking water shall be made available to a detained person at all times,” the ICC’s Registry also says.

Yekatom’s defense team was not satisfied that detainees could cook their own food if they wanted a culturally-appropriate cuisine. In defense, the Registry said that another African detainee “does not reject” the food system. Yekatom’s lawyers want the ICC to “employ a cook or a catering company to prepare and provide culturally appropriate meals at the Detention Center.”

That’s the latest reiterated request of the Yekatom team, but earlier in 2023, the leadership of the ICC composed of its judges said “the involvement of detained persons in the preparation of their meals is a common practice, which is not inconsistent with international instruments concerning the standards of treatment of detained persons.”

A previous detainee of the same center, although not an ICC suspect, was Charles Taylor, who was kept there by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for security purposes.

In the same center, Taylor also aired grievances about what his lawyer then called “eurocentric” food. Taylor, the former president of Liberia, was convicted in 2012 of war crimes and crimes against humanity for the killing of tens of thousands of people during Sierra Leone’s civil war. – Rappler.com