Shortly before he landed in the Netherlands, the 79-year-old unapologetically defended his bloody “war on drugs” for which the ICC says there are “reasonable grounds” to charge him with murder as a crime against humanity.

Small-time drug dealers, users and others were killed without trial on his watch as mayor and, later, as president.

The official toll stands at 6,000, though activists believe the real figure could run into the tens of thousands.

Duterte said he cracked down on drug dealers to rid the country of street crimes.

However, rights groups allege that the campaign was rife with police abuse, targeting young men from the urban poor.

Duterte is the first Asian former head of state to be indicted by the ICC – and the first suspect to be flown to The Hague in three years.

And his arrival comes at a pivotal moment for the International Criminal Court.

Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and deportation on Monday was the result of an unprecedented chain of events.

His supporters allege that the ICC is being used as a political tool by the country’s current president Ferdinand Marcos who has publicly fallen out with the powerful Duterte family.

The ICC is a court of last resort designed to hold the most powerful to account when domestic courts are unable or unwilling to do so. But this case is a reminder of the extent to which it depends on state cooperation in order to fulfil its mandate – it effectively has no power to arrest people without the cooperation of the countries they are in, which is most often refused.

In the case of Duterte, chances that he would ever be prosecuted by the ICC seemed unthinkable even in 2022, when his daughter, Vice-President Sara Duterte, allied with Marcos to create the powerful “uniteam” that swept parliamentary elections.

Up until a few months ago, Marcos had dismissed the idea of cooperating with the ICC.

But the pace at which Duterte was served an arrest warrant and extradited shows that when political winds shift, those once considered untouchable can find themselves touching down in The Hague.

The whole process of his extradition – from his detention in Manila to his arrival in The Hague – has been documented on social media by his daughter Kitty and Duterte himself through his aide. His plane was the most tracked on flight radar.

“I am the one who led our law enforcement and military. I said that I will protect you and I will be responsible for all of this,” he said on a Facebook video, one of many that was shared over more than 24 hours during his journey from Manila to The Hague.

It provided rare insight into what is usually an opaque process, and the world was able to follow, sometimes in real time, every step of it right down to the meals Duterte was served on board his chartered jet.

Duterte’s arrest now sends a strong signal that even powerful individuals may be held accountable for their actions, potentially deterring future abuses.

His case has also reignited debate about the ICC’s role in relation to national sovereignty, a concern often raised by non-member states like the United States, Russia, and China.

The court depends on its 128 members to fund and be the operational arm of this judicial body.

So Duterte’s headline-making arrival, followed by his first night in a jail cell at The Hague, offer the the court a much-needed win.

After serving two high-profile arrest warrants – one for the Russian president Vladimir Putin, and another for Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza – which are unlikely to be enforced any time soon, the arrival of Duterte will be put forth as proof the court is capable of bringing those accused of the gravest atrocities to face justice.

It is a litmus test for the ICC’s ability to function effectively in an increasingly polarised climate.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan was recently sanctioned by Donald Trump over the arrest warrant issued for Benjamin Netanyahu.

The detention of Duterte provides him with a powerful response.

“Many say international law is not strong,” Karim Khan acknowledged. “But international law is not as weak as some may think. When we come together, when we build partnerships, the rule of law can prevail.”

The former Philippines president will now mark his 80th birthday this month in the ICC’s detention facility, located in the dunes of The Hague.

The facility, once a Nazi prison complex, provides each detainee with a private cell, access to computers, a library, and sports facilities.

If he isn’t satisfied with the meals provided, Duterte has the option to prepare his own food using a shopping list in the detention center’s kitchen. He will also have access to medical care, lawyers, and visitors.

He is expected to make his initial court appearance in the coming days, where he will confirm his identity, choose the language he wishes to follow proceedings in, and acknowledge the charges against him.

Following this public appearance, a confirmation of charges hearing will follow, during which the judges will decide whether the prosecution has presented a sufficient amount of evidence to proceed to trial.

If the charges are confirmed, it could be many months before he eventually goes on trial, and years before a final judgment.

Spearheading the effort was Vanuatu which, alongside other Pacific island nations, says the climate crisis poses a threat to its very existence.

“It is with a profound sense of urgency and responsibility that I stand before you today,” Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s special envoy for climate change and environment, said as he opened the hearings on December 2.

“The outcome of these proceedings will reverberate across generations, determining the fate of nations like mine and the future of our planet,” he said.

In the two weeks that followed, dozens of countries made similar entreaties, while a handful of major fossil fuel-producing countries argued polluters should not be held responsible.

Sebastien Duyck, a senior lawyer with the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), which monitored the hearings, said the countries arguing against legal liability were in the minority.

Major polluters, including the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Australia, Norway, and Kuwait, found themselves isolated in their attempts to play the legal system to serve their self-interests and insulate themselves from accountability,” Duyck said in a statement.

“It is time to break this cycle of harm and impunity,” he added.

The ICJ’s 15 judges from around the world must now consider two questions: what are countries obliged to do under international law to protect the climate and environment from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions?

And what are the legal consequences for governments when their acts, or lack of action, have significantly harmed the climate and environment?

Among countries that provided oral statements during the hearings was the State of Palestine, which joined other developing nations in calling for international law to “take centre stage in protecting humanity from the dangerous path of human-made destruction resulting from climate change”.

The Palestinian statement also offered insights into the ways that Israel’s illegal occupation is both causing climate change and hurting Palestinians’ ability to respond to it.

“There can be no doubt that the ongoing illegal Israeli belligerent occupation of Palestine and its discriminatory policies have clear negative climate effects,” Ammar Hijazi, the State of Palestine’s ambassador to the Netherlands, said on Monday.

East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, testified in support of Vanuatu’s case.

“The climate crisis that we face today is the result of the historical and ongoing actions of industrialised nations, which have reaped the benefits of rapid economic growth, powered by colonial exploitation and carbon-intensive industries and practices,” Elizabeth Exposto, chief of staff to Timor-Leste’s prime minister, said on Thursday.

“These nations, representing only a fraction of the global population, are overwhelmingly responsible for the climate crisis,” she added, “and yet, the impacts of climate change do not respect borders.

”The hearings come after 132 countries at the United Nations General Assembly voted in March 2023 to support Vanuatu’s push for an opinion from the ICJ on the legal obligations nations are under to protect current and future generations from climate change.

The turn to courts to spur action on climate change also reflects a growing degree of dissatisfaction among some governments at the lack of progress in UN climate negotiations, where decisions are based on consensus.

The most recent COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, concluded with rich countries pledging to contribute $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations combat the effects of climate change.

But the Climate Action Network International, a network of 1,900 civil society groups in more than 130 countries, described the deal as a “joke”, when compared with the costs developing countries are facing as climate change worsens.

As Regenvanu noted in his statement for Vanuatu, “it is unconscionable that the COP failed to reach any agreement on cutting emissions”.

“There is an urgent need for a collective response to climate change grounded not in political convenience but in international law.”

The blast, which occurred at 06:15 local time (05:15 GMT) on Saturday, demolished five homes in the Tarwekamp area of the city.Police are exploring “all avenues” that could have led to the incident, with the arrests suggesting a potential criminal motive.

The suspects are being held in restrictive custody, only allowed contact with their lawyers, and are expected to appear in court later this week.

“Further arrests cannot be ruled out,” officials announced.

On Saturday night, we met local people trudging around in the rain between fire trucks and police vans.

The quiet neighbourhood has been shaken by the loss of six people and the uncertainty surrounding the nature of, and possible reason behind, the blast.

Among the victims were three members of the same family – a 45-year-old father, his partner, 41, and their 17-year-old daughter. Their 8-year-old son miraculously survived.

Three other men – aged 31, 44, and 63 – were also killed. Among them was a civil engineer from Greece, who was reportedly “in love with the Netherlands”.

Four others were rescued from the rubble of their former homes.Several vehicles have been seized – though it’s unclear if any are the car seen speeding away from the scene shortly after the explosion.

Police have received dozens of tip-offs and are appealing for more witnesses and images from pet cameras or dashcams.

Forensic teams are poised to resume their investigation once the crime scene is deemed safe.The explosion’s impact has extended beyond the immediate casualties.

Four people were hospitalised, including two who had been sleeping in the basement of a bar at the time and were treated for smoke inhalation.

A bridal store next door to the bar was completely destroyed, while another ground-floor bar’s wine stock remarkably remained intact. An artist’s studio was also totally decimated.

Many residents were evacuated and remain in shelters while structural damage is assessed.

Addressing ICC members in The Hague at an annual conference on Monday, ICC President Tomoko Akane said the court faced “coercive measures, threats, pressure and acts of sabotage” without naming the United States and Russia.

The court has been facing rebukes from the two countries after issuing arrest warrants for Israeli and Russian officials over wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

“The court is being threatened with draconian economic sanctions by another permanent member of the Security Council as if it was a terrorist organisation,” Akane said in her address.

US politicians have been threatening to impose sanctions on ICC officials after the tribunal issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over suspected war crimes in Gaza.

Last month, US Senator Lindsey Graham, whose Republican Party will be in control of both houses of Congress and the White House starting in January, called the ICC a “dangerous joke” and threatened penalties against the court and any country that cooperates with it.

“To any ally – Canada, Britain, Germany, France – if you try to help the ICC, we’re going to sanction you,” Graham said on Fox News.

In June, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives passed a bill to sanction the court in response to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for the arrest warrants against Israeli officials.

The measure has so far not been considered by the Senate, which at this point is controlled by Democrats.

After the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and a Hamas leader last month, US Senator Tom Cotton suggested using military force against The Hague-based tribunal.

The US and Israel are not members of the ICC, and they have rejected the court’s investigations of alleged abuses in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

However, the court has ruled that it has jurisdiction in those areas because the State of Palestine is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the tribunal.

“The court has been subjected to attacks seeking to undermine its legitimacy and ability to administer justice and realise international law and fundamental rights – coercive measures, threats, pressure and acts of sabotage,” Akane said.

She called the efforts “appalling”.Last week, the court decried the “recent issuance of arrest warrants aimed at threatening the liberty and integrity of two judges”. Russia had issued an arrest warrant for ICC Judge Haykel Ben Mahfoudh in November.

Moscow also previously indicted Khan and other court officials after the ICC issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Russian military leaders last year over alleged war crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Akane warned on Monday that the fall of the court through these threats would “imply the fall of the rule of law in the international community”.

“Victims would no longer be able to obtain justice. For many of them, a world without the ICC is inconceivable,” the ICC president said.

“We firmly reject any attempt to influence the independence and the impartiality of the court,” she added.

The ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression when member states are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.

Its warrant against the Israeli leaders marked the first time the court issued an order for a staunchly close Western ally.