Recognizing the challenges in peace and security, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro on Saturday, Sept. 27 (New York time), once more pushed for the inclusion of the Philippines in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for a non-permanent seat, underscoring the country’s commitment and readiness to pursue global peace. (Video courtesy of United Nations TV)
00:00Mr. President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, at the closing of the San Francisco Conference in 1945, Filipino General Carlos P. Romulo declared the UN Charter as an achievement for all humanity.
00:17It is an accomplishment, he said, that will embrace and protect us at the same time that it liberates the human spirit.
00:25Our fate in the United Nations Charter endures as the international community celebrates the 80th anniversary of the United Nations.
00:36United in purpose, we, the 193 member states of the United Nations, are stewards of this office, of this edifice.
00:45It counts on our courage to be equal to the task it bestows on us.
00:50The United Nations was born in the rubble of war.
00:54We embark on a peace that works not only for the powers of that day, but also for all of humanity, for all time.
01:04We forge through the Charter a covenant of just inequitable peace.
01:09Yet today, we ponder on the triumphs of this shared journey amidst the jolting clamor for peace and humanity under the very circumstances for which the United Nations was conceived.
01:23We must end the suffering of millions who live in starvation and fear in Gaza.
01:29Ceasefires must hold.
01:31Humanitarian access must be restored without restrictions.
01:35Children, women, and innocent civilians must be saved from further violence.
01:41Healing must begin.
01:43The two-state solution is the only viable diplomatic solution for sustainable peace.
01:49We must end the conflict in Ukraine.
01:52A just peace is only possible with respect for Ukraine's sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity.
02:00We must double down to address humanitarian crises around the world, looking at their roots and investing in durable solutions.
02:09We must protect and assist displaced populations in Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Sahel region, of the Rohingyas, and in many other parts of the world.
02:23This June, the Secretary General reported over 40,000 cases of violations against children in armed conflict, the highest recorded in 30 years.
02:35This is unconscionable.
02:37We owe our children peace.
02:40Excellencies, distinguished delegates,
02:42This is a challenge that the Philippines is ready to rise up to as we seek a non-permanent seat in the Security Council for the term 2027-2028.
03:12We look ahead to the solemn honor of serving this body.
03:17The Philippines is committed to contribute to the Security Council in a manner that takes into account the views and concerns of the General UN membership and other principal organs of the United Nations.
03:30We recognize the weight of the responsibility of the Security Council.
03:35When it acts for the interest of humanity, it is a fulcrum of change, a force for good.
03:41And a bastion of hope for populations trapped in hopeless situations.
03:47We seek to be part of it to help advance the cause of global peace with the depth of experience earned from our struggles for peace.
03:56In the Philippines, we know that beyond stopping hostilities, peace is a just order with individuals flourishing in dignity at its center.
04:09The success story of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or BARM tells us that peace-building,
04:16though sometimes arduous and long-endous communities, their rightful future.
04:23Our vision for global peace finds its home in the 1982 Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes.
04:31Excellencies, distinguished delegates, the UN Charter binds nations in promoting peace and progress in larger freedom.
04:42This drives our quest for global solutions to the transcendent challenges that affect nations.
04:49New models are needed to achieve equitable, sustainable, and inclusive development.
04:55For decades, the UN development system has aided transformation in many nations, including the Philippines.
05:03Amidst current funding shortfalls, we must support reforms to help it deliver value to UN member states
05:11in tight accord with national priorities, with less bureaucracy and fragmentation.
05:16It is regrettable that politics and the demands of war have cut development financing globally,
05:24just as we embarked in the last mile of the SDG agenda.
05:29This has shifted the focus to the roles of developing and middle-income countries as shapers of development solutions.
05:36And why not?
05:38Together, we are the fastest-growing economies, the largest consumer markets, and the top sources of human capital.
05:45Even as we manage our share of economic vulnerabilities within our borders,
05:52the Philippine nations are assuming greater responsibility as agents of transformative and inclusive cooperation.
06:01We are actively reshaping the global development agenda in the 21st century.
06:07In the Financing for Development Conference in Sevilla,
06:11we face the sobering truth that the current financial system is untenable.
06:18It is one that has fostered debt burdens and perpetrated power imbalance,
06:24a system that mires the poor and favors the wealthy.
06:28Structural asymmetries undermine the ability of developing countries,
06:32particularly climate-vulnerable ones,
06:35to mobilize the scale and quality of finance required for resilient development.
06:42Access to finance remains skewed.
06:46Climate-vulnerable developing countries face borrowing costs that exceed their projected growth rates.
06:52The agility criteria for concessional finance is tied to outdated income classifications,
07:00with no account for risks and vulnerabilities faced by many countries that need such lifelines for sustaining their growth.
07:09Reforms are long overdue.
07:11Multilateral processes must confront the widening gap between climate ambition and the means of implementation,
07:18whether in terms of financial resources, technology transfer, or capacity building.
07:25Developed countries must fulfill their financial obligations.
07:29Multilateral development banks must do their part.
07:33Climate finance is a binding commitment as affirmed by the International Court of Justice in its unanimous advisory opinion last July.
07:41We need to rebalance decision-making power in global financing institutions.
07:48Developing countries must be co-architects of systems that determine allocation, eligibility, and accountability.
07:56As a maritime country known for its mega-biodiversity,
08:02the Philippines considers the sustainability of our environmental ecosystem as key to our climate and economic resilience.
08:11I am pleased to announce the Philippines' ratification of the BBNJ agreement,
08:16and this is in line with our commitment to the rules-based international order and the 1982 UNCLOS.
08:23We are determined to advance the just governance of the oceans and the conservation of maritime biodiversity.
08:30In our reflection on evolving multilateralism to be more fit for purpose,
08:37we must consider progress in the way we account for our stewardship of resources.
08:42Our economic models must account for the health of our planet.
08:47We must measure our success in promoting development in larger freedom in our accountability to every nation
08:55and every person of the community.
08:57Societies strive in diversity and inclusion.
09:01Ladies and gentlemen, we stand in the midst of a global revolution of people, of economies, and of technologies.
09:10Migration straddles these changes.
09:12The movement of people across borders sustains growth in countries of origin, transit, and destination alike.
09:20Every day, Filipino migrants across the world are a testament to this.
09:26They support health systems, advance education, and boost creative economies.
09:33The 1.9 million seafarers are the backbone of maritime trade that accounts for 90% of global commerce.
09:41The International Conference on Seafarers, Human Rights, Safety, and Well-Being held in Manila early this month
09:48affirmed that states and stakeholders are ready to do more for them.
09:54As migrants link our nations, their rights and dignity should be a gathering point, not a fault line for governments.
10:04Technology is the other defining force of our age, a connector, an enabler, an equalizer.
10:10Artificial intelligence offers promise, but carries profound risks.
10:17We must help build digital societies that bridges development divides rather than widen them, conforming with safeguards against misuse.
10:27Over the last 80 years, the United Nations Charter has served as a wellspring of purpose and action for those who rise equal to the task of delivering its promise.
10:38There is no alternative to the United Nations.
10:41There is no good global order other than one based on international law and the principle of the sovereign equality of states.
10:50A rules-based order is indispensable.
10:54To maritime nations such as the Philippines, international law, particularly the 1982 law of the sea, is fundamental to our future.
11:02While our government vessels and fisherfolk continue to be harassed in our own waters,
11:09and as we remain on the receiving end of illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous actions in the South China Sea,
11:16we abide by the own clause as reinforced by the binding 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea.
11:24We are committed to diplomacy and other peaceful means to settle disputes.
11:30At the birth of the UN, the Philippines actively helped in framing the foundational principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
11:39which states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
11:44The early decades of the UN saw the spirited engagement of Filipino diplomats against colonization and apartheid and economic inequality.
11:55We have steadfastly strived for justice.
11:59For its cause, we have helped manage the frontlines of climate diplomacy,
12:05from the drafting of the Climate Change Convention itself to the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement.
12:11We have engaged with the fire of a nation familiar with the brunt of devastation of disasters and extreme weather events.
12:20We know the urgency of global action.
12:24Justice and equity was our guidepost during the crafting of the WHO pandemic agreement.
12:30The adoption of this treaty last May was a sweet spot in the Philippines' presidency of the World Health Assembly.
12:38Our pledge to peace is unwavering.
12:40The Philippines was among the first to respond to the UN, called for assistance in the Korean War.
12:47A decade later, Philippine troops flew halfway across the globe to aid in peacekeeping operations in the Congo.
12:55Since then, we have sent nearly 15,000 troops to 21 peacekeeping missions in Africa, Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific.
13:04This experience has taught us that peacekeeping is about empowering communities.
13:10It must carve exit strategies with focused, non-politicized mandates from the Security Council.
13:18New models must be tailored to contexts and needs on the ground.
13:22Then as now, we embrace our role as a bridge builder.
13:27As General Carlos P. Romulo put it in 1946,
13:31a bridge between two worlds, among the first of many that must be erected to make them one.
13:37Then as now, we offer steady hands in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Bangkok, Nairobi, Rome, and the cradles of joint action as a partner, pathfinder, and peacemaker.
13:52Excellencies, distinguished delegates, our world is far different from the world inhabited by the founders of the UN.
14:01Our new realities test the durability of the Charter at its 80th year.
14:07The measure of credibility for the UN is whether it can hold its sovereign promise in today's world,
14:13where nations shape the future on equal terms.
14:17As I conclude, I recall again General Romulo's words at the first UN General Assembly in 1946
14:23that the Filipino stake in the United Nations is one of an identical destiny of shared anxiety, of hope, and endeavor.
14:34The journey of the entire family of the United Nations has been one of hope and endeavor.
14:38In the strength of our diversity, the UN is the common vessel steering humanity through the onslaught of challenge and change.
14:48We count on each other for the courage to hope and courage to act.
14:52Let us persevere in purpose, in action, as the United Nations,
14:57so we can claim before those who came before us and those coming after
15:01that we have risen to the challenges of our time and have far exceeded our calling.
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