Philippines, 2012

Allow me to

congratulate the President on his election and to offer

the steadfast support of my country for his term.

Each year we renew our commitment to our United

Nations and to the Charter that enshrines, in the plainest

of language, our hopes and aspirations for a progressive,

peaceful and secure world. Our Organization and our

Charter have survived and thrived through dark times

and great adversity. The letter and spirit of the Charter

remain alive and vibrant in a constantly changing world.

Our work continues to be important, even in the face of

doubts about the relevance of multilateral institutions.

All that was possible because at the heart of our

determination to build peace has been our commitment

to the rule of law. Keeping faith in the law allows us

to treat each other fairly and in the spirit of sovereign

equality. It provides the rules that enable nations to

relate to one another and work together. It reduces

arbitrariness and unilateralism. Fidelity to the rule of law allows us not only the means to resolve differences

but also the substance on which to build better

understanding.

Our advocacy for the rule of law not only is born

of our experience and insights as a founding Member

of the United Nations and an active participant in

international affairs, but also is deeply rooted in our

experience as a nation. Our freedom was hard-won.

Our democracy was achieved only after decades of

dictatorship. Our governance was sullied by corruption

and patronage in previous years.

Our President, Benigno S. Aquino III, has placed

the rule of law at the centre of his governance. As a

result, the culture of impunity has been neutralized,

our economy is on the upswing and our people’s rights

and freedoms are assured.

Among the gravest threats that continue to face us

today is the deadly testament of man’s ability to destroy

his fellow man. The full force of the rule of law must be

brought to bear to prevent the proliferation of nuclear

weapons, to promote nuclear disarmament and to end

the f low of illicit weapons. The Philippines is proud

to have presided over the 2010 Review Conference

of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation

of Nuclear Weapons. The historic adoption of the 64

action points strengthened the legal regime of the

Treaty.

We also support nuclear-weapon-free zones,

including the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free

Zone created by the Association of Southeast Asian

Nations. It is essential that such a zone be created for the volatile Middle East, as envisaged by the 2010

Review Conference. The Philippines commends the

States of the region, the depository States of the 1995

resolution 50/78, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and

the Government of Finland for setting the stage for

the 2012 Conference that will pursue that most urgent

objective.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

is another critical pillar of global disarmament and

non-proliferation. The Philippines commends Indonesia

for being the latest annex 2 State to ratify the Treaty,

and it reiterates its call to the remaining eight annex

2 States to accede at the soonest possible time. Other

States not included in annex 2, but not parties to the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, must do the

same to ensure the universality of the Treaty.

We must also actively pursue respect for the law of

peace and humanitarian law in the numerous regional

conflicts that affect the lives, safety and well-being of

millions of people around the world. Towards that end,

peacekeeping is the crucial tool by which the Charter’s

mandate is carried out. Despite its limited resources,

the Philippines is doing its part in that important task.

We are currently a major contributor to United Nations

peacekeeping missions. We call on others to also do

all that they can. And we support innovative efforts to

help embattled communities, including proposals on

possible unarmed peacekeeping that would expand the

civilian component of our endeavours.

The Philippines also recognizes the important role

of women in the promotion of peace and continues to

deploy more female peacekeepers to peacekeeping

missions. We aim to attain and surpass the 10 per

cent deployment target of women in country troop

contingents and 20 per cent for police deployments.

With a tenth of the population of our country in

foreign lands, there is a very real and human dimension

to our quest to strengthen the rule of law. To further

galvanize international dialogue and cooperation, the

Philippines has been among the principal advocates for

developing norms of international law that will protect

not only our overseas Filipinos but all migrants. Human

trafficking is a crime of such magnitude that it cannot

be dealt with by a single nation or even by a group of

nations. The international community as a whole must

stand together against that scourge. For that reason, the

Philippines became a founding member of the Group

of Friends United against Human Trafficking, and we

are the main sponsor of the biennial General Assembly

resolution on trafficking in women and girls.

In pursuit of that objective, we call on all Member

States to implement the Global Plan of Action against

Trafficking in Persons and to ratify and enforce human

rights instruments such as the Palermo Protocol and

the International Convention on the Protection of the

Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their

Families.

Many of my country’s overseas Filipinos are found

on merchant ships. Filipinos form the bulk of seafarers.

Many have fallen victim to pirates. Maritime piracy

continues to be a menace to the entire world. A full 80 per

cent of world trade travels by sea — almost six billion

tons of cargo, moved by some 93,000 merchant vessels,

manned by 1.25 million seafarers. The business and

human costs of piracy cannot be overstated. We support

bilateral, multilateral, regional and interregional efforts

to address the impact of piracy, including measures to

improve the welfare of affected seafarers.

The Philippine Constitution values the dignity of

every human person and guarantees full respect for all

human rights. Our National Human Rights Action Plan

2009-2014 aims to mainstream human rights standards

into all parts of the national Government and national

life. The Plan fully respects our obligations under the

eight major international human rights treaties.

As a founding and current member of the Human

Rights Council, the Philippines works with the other

members of the Council to safeguard the human

rights of vulnerable groups, such as migrants, women,

children, young people, the elderly, indigenous peoples

and persons with disabilities. The Philippines has

actively contributed to initiatives on human rights,

extreme poverty, human rights education, combating

trafficking in persons, especially women and children,

and climate change.

The Philippines was one of the first nations to

submit to the universal periodic review process of

the Human Rights Council. Last month, the Council

adopted by consensus our second report under that

review mechanism.

The noble vision of the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights and of many other profound declarations

is far from being realized for the poor, the deprived,

the oppressed and the marginalized. The recent global

financial and economic crises have left such vulnerable sectors of our societies in even greater danger. The

Philippine Government therefore strongly supports

measures for the empowerment of those disadvantaged

and endangered groups and strongly advocates policies

that aim to raise their participation and integration in

society.

For that reason, it is important to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to plan

for the post-MDG period, after 2015. Accordingly,

the Philippines, together with Tanzania, initiated

resolution 66/124, entitled “High-level Meeting of the

General Assembly on the realization of the Millennium

Development Goals and other internationally agreed

development goals for persons with disabilities”. The

2013 High-level Meeting seeks the inclusiveness of the

disabled, a cause to which all should rally.

We are instituting measures to enhance the role

and the status of women and are strengthening their

protection through the Philippine Commission on

Women, whose foundation predates the Convention on

the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against

Women, through the key legislation of the Magna Carta

of Women and through the Philippine Plan for Gender-

Responsive Development 1995-2015.

Migration remains an unheralded and

underappreciated dimension of globalization today. Yet

the reality is that hundreds of millions live and work

outside their native lands, providing benefits to both

their host nations and their countries of origin. The

Global Forum on Migration and Development, which

the Philippines chaired in 2008, allows us to share our

practical experiences in migration management and in

protecting the rights and welfare of all migrants. We

look forward to a successful outcome of the Forum

summit in Port Louis, Mauritius, in November.

Earlier this year, the Philippines was pleased to

ratify two key international instruments that affect

migrants everywhere, namely, the Maritime Labour

Convention and the Convention concerning Decent

Work for Domestic Workers. Our ratification brings

those two agreements into force next year.

As a further indication of our commitment to

protecting the rights of migrants, the Philippines

will co-host a regional meeting of the Global Forum

on Migration and Development, under the title

“International Migrant Domestic Care Workers at the

Interface of Migration and Development”, in Manila

later this month, with the support of UN-Women, the International Labour Organization and the International

Organization for Migration.

The rule of law is an instrument of justice and

development. Yet the continuing global economic

challenges and financial instability make it even more

important that we focus on ensuring that the rule of

law gives everyone their due. Poverty, hunger, poor

health and education and a deteriorating environment

are threats to all and require nothing less than our

concerted and collective response.

In all development efforts, we must respect the

principles and norms of sustainability that are crucial

to the continued health of the Earth and of our peoples.

Consequently, the Philippines will further integrate

key ideas from the United Nations Conference on

Sustainable Development into the review of its medium-

term development plan, even as we continue to pursue

the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals

by 2015.

For many developing countries such as the

Philippines, food security remains a crucial issue.

Recent events have shown that the capacity to

source affordable food can affect millions of people,

sometimes even to the extent of their sheer survival. We

express our appreciation to the General Assembly for

the adoption of resolution 66/222, declaring 2014 the

International Year of Family Farming.

As a country particularly prone to natural disasters,

including those wrought by climate change, we value

the work being done in advancing the management of

natural disaster risk reduction. Global and regional

cooperation through partnerships is the best way

to strengthen the international humanitarian and

emergency response system.

Natural disasters plague mankind. The forces of

nature are difficult to contain. That should not be the

case in humankind’s quest for peace. While natural

disasters are impossible to prevent, the same is not true

of war and conflict.

The United Nations was created to protect the

weak from the strong, to provide for the equality of

all sovereign States and to enshrine the rule of law

as the governing principle in regulating international

disputes.The Philippines is therefore steadfast in

promoting the peaceful settlement of disputes through

a rules-based approach. We stand firmly behind the

efforts of the United Nations to promote the rule of law

and mediation. In 1982, we adopted the Manila Declaration on

the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes. This year marks

its thirtieth anniversary. The principles and processes

set out in the Manila Declaration remain applicable to

this day and are a stark reminder that we have yet to

overcome the barriers that divide countries and peoples

throughout the planet. For that reason, we share the

President’s view that “Bringing about the adjustment

or settlement of international disputes or situations

by peaceful means” is essential to the future peace,

progress and prosperity of all nations.

Furthermore, from the perspective of the rule of law,

and given the maritime disputes that have intensified

in the Asian region, the United Nations Convention on

the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has never been more

relevant than it is today. All States must respect their

obligations to settle their maritime disputes by peaceful

means under UNCLOS, without the threat or use of

force. A rules-based approach under UNCLOS can

peacefully resolve the Asian maritime disputes.

Today, my country faces its most serious

challenge — a challenge to the security of its maritime

domain and the integrity of its national territory, as well

as its effective protection of its marine environment.

To address this challenge and to arrive at a durable

resolution, we must rely on the rule of law and not the

force of arms. We must rely on the body of rules that

state that disputes must be resolved peacefully. We must

rely on the norms and rules enshrined in UNCLOS. We

therefore rely on our friends and allies and all those

who believe in the peaceful and fair management of the

seas and oceans to uphold the rule of law and UNCLOS.

We will endeavour to elicit a more proactive approach

from the General Assembly.

We often hear the quote that “we are a country of

laws and not of men”. I shall modify it to say that “we

are a community of nations and not of hegemons”. Let us

make this a reality. Let us all, without exception, respect

the international legal framework to utilize institutions

and adhere to commitments in treaties and conventions.

For in so doing, we create global norms that will serve

our nations in good stead today and in the future, and

we will preserve the one great institution that we have

charged with promoting peace and prosperity in our

world, our United Nations. If we achieve this, rather

than being forced to accept that might is right, we will

instead demonstrate that right is might.