The International Criminal Court has cleared the way for prosecutors to resume a probe into the so-called war on drugs in the Philippines.

Judges at The Hague-based court have authorized a prosecutor to reactivate an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity between 2011 and 2019.

The inquiry was suspended in 2021 after Manila said it was already examining the crimes, and argued the court didn't have jurisdiction.

Government records show more than 6200 drug suspects were killed, and many of them were people who lived in poverty.

Human rights advocates believe the actual death toll is much higher.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte openly threatened drug suspects with death, but he's defended the crackdown as being "lawfully directed".

Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2019 after it opened the investigation, and the country's current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has said his country does not intend to rejoin the court.

Meanwhile, the Philippine government responded to the ICC's decision in a statement on Friday, saying "our own domestic judicial processes should take precedence, and we can show that despite structural and resource limitations in our legal system, it is still a well-functioning system that yields positive results in its own time."