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Statement on the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea delivered by Ambassador Libran N. Cabactulan at the 24th annual meeting of States Parties to UNCLOS on 9 June 2014

Monday, 09 June 2014
Presenter: 
Amb. Libran N. Cabactulan, Permanent Representative
Location: 
UN Headquarters, New York

PHILIPPINE STATEMENT

Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Entry into Force

of the United Nations on the Convention on the Law of the Sea   

24th Meeting of States Parties to UNCLOS

09 June 2014

Thank you, Mr President.

On behalf of my delegation, let me congratulate you on your election. We are confident that under your leadership and wisdom, we will have a successful and productive meeting.

Before I proceed, let me thank President Shunji Yanai and Secretary-General Nii Allotey Odunton for their concise yet comprehensive presentations this morning on the work of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the International Seabed Authority. Their presentations did not only attest to their proven leadership, but also to the overall collective wisdom of the founding fathers and mothers of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. They bequeathed to us this “constitution for the oceans and the seas” that is guiding us towards the attainment of a just and comprehensive rule for the world’s oceans and its resources. 

On 10 December 2012, we commemorated the 30th anniversary of the opening for signature of UNCLOS in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

On 16 November this year, we will celebrate the 20th anniversary when UNCLOS actually entered into force.

Mr President, UNCLOS is key to ensuring global and regional peace, cooperation and stability, in the just and sustainable use of marine natural resources. That is why more than thirty years ago, those who preceded us, the framers of UNCLOS, our founding fathers and mothers, began by crafting the very first preambular paragraph of the Convention as follows, and I quote:

“The States Parties to this Convention,

“Prompted by the desire to settle, in a spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation, all issues relating to the law of the sea and aware of the historic significance of this Convention as an important contribution to the maintenance of peace, justice and progress for all peoples of the world,”

Then, as now, we affirmed UNCLOS as the international law governing the rights and obligations of States Parties – big as well as small, rich or poor – in their sustainable use of the world’s oceans and its resources.

Then, as now, UNCLOS provides us with a viable mechanism for the peaceful settlement of disputes to resolve overlapping maritime claims that threaten the peace and prosperity of some parts of the world. 

In the spirit of UNCLOS, the Philippines supports and advocates for the peaceful resolution of disputes, including through arbitration. This is consistent with the obligation of states under the Charter of the United Nations, which is further enunciated in the 1982 Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes, and I quote, “Every State shall settle its international disputes exclusively by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.”

Every State is obligated to respect international law and rules-based processes. An arbitration proceeding under UNLCOS is a pacific and rules-based way of settling disputes, which must be pursued and respected.

UNCLOS has never been more important for the world, and certainly for developing countries like the Philippines, where within our own exclusive economic zone and continental shelf we should be able to fully exercise our sovereign rights.

Mr President, the system bequeathed to us by our founding fathers and mothers, through the constitution for the oceans, is working. However, that system is under increasing threat.

Like several other States Parties which took the floor earlier, the Philippines calls on those involved in disputes in and over our seas and oceans to resort to the dispute settlement mechanism in UNCLOS as a way to peacefully settle their disputes.

We believe that the rules-based approach in UNCLOS is the way forward in addressing maritime disputes, including in our own region.

The Philippines would have supported a resolution commemorating the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of UNCLOS, which enunciates in its very first preambular paragraph I quoted earlier, that it covers all issues relating to the law of the sea. It is thus cogent and useful to refer to our declaration in 2012 on the 30th anniversary of the opening for signature of UNCLOS. That declaration recalled the universal and unified character of the Convention and that the Convention sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out. 

We reiterate our call for all States who have not done so to ratify the Convention and contribute to its universality. We welcome Niger for becoming the latest State Party to UNCLOS after our last meeting, bringing our number to 166.

This week, we also look forward to renewing the mandate of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and to electing a new member of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. We will participate in the 20th Assembly of the International Seabed Authority in Kingston next month.

Finally, I wish to end my statement by extending our appreciation for the hard work of DOALOS as the Secretariat of UNCLOS.

Thank you, Mr President.