Not quite. The confusion between the word 'to' and 'two' was the
actual cause of the SE Asia CFIT.
Therefore the poster has a point. ICAO procedures are not perfect (no State can claim that accolade), and they can cause situations where safety is compromised.
In the incident mentioned, ATC said 'Descend two four zero zero, cleared for NDB approach.' They wanted the pilot to descend to 2400'.
The pilots interpreted this as 'Descend to four zero zero.' They read back 'OK four zero zero.' They commenced a descent to 400' and impacted terrain.
ATC gave a confusing instruction. The pilot gave an incorrect readback which was not picked up. The pilots then ignored GPWS warnings which occured at 700' amsl until impact at 437' amsl. So there were chances to prevent the crash, but the initial cause was the use of the word to (two).
UK phraseology instigated from lessons learned in this, and other incidents, is:
'Descend Flight Level XXX' or 'Descent to Altitude xxxx feet'.