PGMA's Speech during the United Nations General Assembly

PGMA's Speech during the United Nations General Assembly

(26 Sept 2003)

MR. President, in behalf of the Philippine delegation, I would like to extend warmest congratulations to you and the members of your bureau on your election to the leadership of the 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The past 12 months were the most difficult and challenging period for the United Nations, of a community of cynicism formed on the ability of the United Nations to rise from the morass of disunity and disruptive competition among major powers to fulfill its catalytic role for international peace and security and development. But, while it is undeniable that the United Nations has struggled over the last 12 months, it's predicted decline is greatly exaggerated.

Economic linkages among nations have widened and deepened in many sectors, the interconnectedness of the global village continues to infringe traditional, political boundaries.

For instance, the tentacles of international terrorism are insidiously spread all over. These and other current developments have displayed that without the centripetal pull provided by international cooperation and partnership through the UN, the world would tend to drift apart. The rich would become richer, the poor poorer. Conflict and disharmony would erupt along political, ethnic and even religious fissures. We face the paradox of a world contracting through advancing technology that is, at the same time, drifting apart in the seams of inequality.

Mr. President, three years ago, 146 heads of state in government, and 189 member states, in total, blazed the trail to our future by crafting the millennium declaration, in the three years since the millennium started, in the three years since the millennium summit, much has been done to achieve the goals that the UN set for the 21st century.

I am pleased to report that the vision of the millennium summit and the pursuit of the millennium development goals in my country have begun to bear fruit as they have been applied in our peace process for the Southern Philippines in Mindanao. The Philippine government, and I believe, even the MILF, the Muslim separatist group in the Southern Philippines, realize that the prescription of the United Nations is the correct and only viable one; and that is, that peace is an indispensable condition for economic development just as development is an essential component of peace. Nothing will do more to lift the Philippines out of poverty than peace itself. That is why we are negotiating peace with the MILF. The government of Malaysia has been a prime mover in helping us negotiate peace. And I thank them.
To compliment these efforts, the Philippines has launched its bid for observer status in the Organization of the Islamic Conference. I will be attending the OIC conference next month in Malaysia, and hope to use that time to advance the peace process in Mindanao, and to advance the understanding between all faiths.

Mr. President, I wish to take this opportunity to thank the United Nations community for its support for the Philippines as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the term 2004 to 2005, and to ask for your continued support during the elections for the council. We wish to contribute our long experience in the UN system as an original founding member of the organization. We have actively participated in the council's initiatives towards the preservation of global peace and security throughout the past six decades, both as a past non-permanent member and as a contributor to UN peacekeeping operations and other council activities.

The Philippines has actively contributed military and police personnel to UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East and Europe over the past half century. Now, we are preparing to contribute a contingent to join the latest UN operation: the deployment to Liberia next month.
Our guiding principles for our council participation include the following: the principle of collective security established under the UN charter should be observed; the Security Council should maintain and pursue a multilateral approach towards the performance of its primary role of maintaining international peace and security; observance of the rule of law is of paramount importance in the maintenance of international peace and security.
I believe there is a strong role for the UN to play in Iraq, and I welcome and encourage you in involvement to share the burden with other nations, like the Philippines, that are already participating in the reconstruction of Iraq.

Mr. President, it is heartening that at the last session of the general assembly, we adopted an important resolution on conflict prevention. As long as conflict occurs, there is a need to strengthen our capacities for peacekeeping, peace making and peace building. International security, which, in recent experience, is mostly threatened by imploding and failed states, must be animated by the need to protect individuals and communities from violence.

It has also been amply demonstrated that democracy is the most conducive condition for the rule of law to flourish. Erecting machineries and infrastructure for the rule of law should be included as a key part of any exit strategy of UN peace operations. It is our view that the Security Council should provide the leadership in moving the United Nations to a stronger commitment to the rule of law in areas where the UN is conducting peace operations.

Meanwhile, the challenges posted by the global threat of terrorism are being effectively addressed through growing international coordination and cooperation particularly in the exchange of information, best practices and lessons learned. We are actively assisting the work of the UN Security Council's counterterrorism committee in fighting the specter of global terrorism, and we are in the process of ratifying the important international conventions on terrorism. At the same time, I'm working with other heads of states to ensure continued cooperation in our battle to rid Southeast Asia of the threat of terrorism.

Mr. President, what is required of us today is to link up once more with the vision that our leaders started at the millennium summit and other recent international conferences, and we should do this behind the banner of the United Nations. The United Nations was invented fifty-eight years ago to serve as the multilateral forum of international community to join hands in confronting challenges. It is sobering to remember that no country, big or small, rich or poor, can feel safe or think that it can remain unaffected by violent conflicts, environmental degradation and human suffering. The UN, to fulfill its envisioned role, must continue to adapt to changing conditions, and we support the call of the secretary general for reforms in the structure of the UN.

The United Nations is a sui generis institution that can play a catalytic role to confront all these challenges now and in the future. Therefore, it behooves every member of this organization to make the United Nations increasingly relevant and invigorative in order to become a modern, nimble and determined agent for change which benefits mankind's condition.

Mr. President, we should instill the concept of strength and greatness, not in terms of the ability to achieve or maintain dominance over others, but in terms of the ability of nations to work with others in the interest of the international community as a whole. We are for the strength of consensus in which lies the future of world peace, security and prosperity.

Thank you.

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