Ambassador Enrique Manalo, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations, thanks the United Nations General Assembly for adopting the resolution on the Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes.
9 December, New York – At the 49th plenary meeting of its 76th session, the United Nations General Assembly adopted without a vote the resolution commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the 1982 Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes.
Under the terms of the resolution, the General Assembly welcomes the fortieth anniversary of the adoption of the Manila Declaration, encourages the United Nations and all Member States to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Declaration, and reiterates its call to all States to observe and promote the Manila Declaration in the peaceful settlement of their international disputes.
Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations, said that “The adoption by consensus of this resolution which calls on all States to observe and promote in good faith the Manila Declaration in the peaceful settlement of their international disputes, now – almost forty years later and under clement circumstances – is a testament to its enduring relevance.”
Ambassador Manalo further stated that “The Philippines attaches great significance to the work of the Special Committee on the United Nations Charter as its establishment was one of the advocacies of Mr. Carlos P. Romulo, the Filipino diplomat who signed the UN Charter on behalf of the Philippines in 1945.”
The Manila Declaration is a landmark instrument on the peaceful settlement of international disputes. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 November 1982, on the basis of a text prepared by the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization at its 1980 session, held in Manila, the Philippines.
The Declaration is the first important instrument of the work of the Special Committee and one of its significant achievements. It was elaborated on the initiative of non-aligned countries including the Philippines, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Romania, Sierra Leone, and Tunisia.
Established in 1974, the Special Committee considers proposals on the maintenance of international peace and security in all its aspects in order to strengthen the role of the United Nations, including strengthening the relationship and cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations or arrangements in the peaceful settlement of disputes. The Philippines chaired the Committee in 2020. END