Nuns who are members of the Catholic church join a protest denouncing the government's bloody drug war as they march and then hold a human chain near their church in Quezon City on Tuesday. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — Several international human rights groups have lauded the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte, calling it a "long-overdue victory against impunity" as he was set to face the International Criminal Court (ICC) over his bloody drug war.

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"Former President Duterte’s arrest and transfer to The Hague is a long-overdue victory against impunity that could bring victims and their families a step closer to justice," according to Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

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HRW said Duterte's arrest should send a message to despots around the world that the time of reckoning will come.

“This momentous event sends a message to human rights abusers everywhere that one day they could be held to account," Lau said.

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) also said the arrest of Duterte sends a "resounding message that crimes against humanity will not go unpunished."

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"Duterte’s arrest is the beginning of accountability for the mass killings that defined his brutal rule... His arrest should serve as a stark warning to all war criminals, including those currently in power... Impunity has limits," ICHRP chairperson Peter Murphy said.

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Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard issued a same warning to criminals around the world who believe they can always get away with their crimes.

"To all those in power now who think they are above the law, think twice, think carefully. Time will come: you will not enjoy impunity forever, no matter how powerful you are now," she said.

Callamard was previously the UN special rapporteur for extrajudicial killings.

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ICHRP also paid tribute to the victims of the drug war as well as the activists and other organizations who refused to give up in their fight for justice.

“This is a historic moment for the victims and their families who have long suffered under Duterte’s reign of terror," the group said.

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Duterte, 79, faces a charge of "the crime against humanity of murder", according to the ICC, for the crackdown in which rights groups estimate tens of thousands of mostly poor men were killed by officers and vigilantes, often without proof they were linked to drugs.

The Gulfstream G550 bringing him to the Hague, where he will face trial before the ICC, took off at 11:03 p.m. from Villamor Air Base on Tuesday. 

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