Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo cautioned that the concept of responsibility to protect should not be used as a license to intervene in domestic affairs.

 

17 May 2021, New York– At the United Nations General Assembly today, Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations, stated that there is a need to shift the focus of discussions among Member States towards reaching a shared and common understanding of the responsibility to protect, especially in translating the principle into multilateral or collective action.

In this regard, Ambassador Manalo expressed Philippine support for a resolution calling for the inclusion in the annual agenda of the General Assembly an item on the responsibility to protect and requesting the Secretary-General to report annually to the General Assembly on the subject.

The responsibility to protect is a political commitment unanimously adopted by all members of the United Nations General Assembly at the 2005 World Summit and articulated in the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document.

“The Philippines has consistently supported the inclusion of an agenda item on the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) because we believe in the need for formal and continuing consideration by the General Assembly of the still-evolving concept of RtoP,” Ambassador Manalo said.

“The two elements of the resolution on the table will move this process forward. First, by including RtoP in the annual agenda, we will have the occasion to revisit the common commitments of our Leaders in the 2005 World Summit on RtoP, the three-pronged agenda that we have been mandated to advance,” Ambassador Manalo stated.

“Second, by requesting the Secretary General to report annually to the General Assembly, we can better deliberate on the content of RtoP. It is time to take stock of what has been achieved since 2005,” he added.

Ambassador Manalo cautioned, however, that “RtoP should never be used as a license or pretext to intervene in domestic and internal affairs and undermine the sovereignty of states. There is a need therefore to shift the focus of our discussions on reaching a shared and common understanding of RtoP, especially in translating the principle into multilateral or collective action.”

The responsibility to protect seeks to narrow the gap between Member States’ obligations under international law and the reality faced by populations at risk of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. END