Human rights groups to protest against PH candidature in the UN Security Council

The United Nations Security Council in session./Photo courtesy: UNSC Homepage

By Macel Ingles

Geneva, Switzerland - Human rights group Karapatan is opposing  the Philippine government´s bid for a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and confirmed that it is holding discussions with other coalitions to campaign against the bid.

This, after Philippine embassies in Europe geared up its campaign to ask for support from European countries.

No less than Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo reiterated the Philippines´ UN aspiration as he spoke at a recent Philippine Independence Day celebration in New York before 300 diplomats and guests.

“The Philippines will bring to the Security Council 80 years of multilateral experience, a tradition of principled diplomacy, and a readiness to listen, engage and lead with purpose,” Manalo told the crowd at the diplomatic reception. 

The UN Security Council has 15 members, five of which are permanent and the other 10 are not. The five permanent members include China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The non-permanent members include Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama, Somalia, Bahrain, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Latvia and Liberia.

Elections of non-permanent members are held annually by secret ballot, with seats allocated by regional group. Candidates must secure a two-thirds majority in the 193-member General Assembly to be elected.

This is the Philippines´ fifth bid for the seat having previously earned seats in the council in 1957, 1963, 1980-81 and 2004-2005.

Karapatan secretary General Cristina Palabay told Pinoy Portal Europe (PPE) that her group is “definitely campaigning against the Philippine government´s candidacy at the UNSC.”

Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay is attending the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. /Photo: Macel Ingles

She also revealed that Karapatan is in discussion with other human rights coalitions for the campaign to oppose the election of the Philippines to the council.

Palabay warned that granting the Philippines a seat on the UN Security Council could be seen “as the international community of State´s approval of its repressive and murderous policies that result in the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law”.

She said that the move would further complicate the security situation in the Asia Pacific as the Philippine government´s bid further stokes tensions in the region, with Marcos doing the bidding of the US versus China.

Experts view the Philippine government’s bid in the UNHRC as part of a diplomatic strategy linked to its  ties with China.

Vincent Kyle Parada, a former defense analyst for the the Philippine Navy and a graduate of the S. Rajanatnam School of International Studies told South China Morning Post that he sees the campaign to gain a seat in the UNSC as “the linchpin of Manila´s diplomatic strategy” concerning its brewing dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea, “not only as a national security concern but an international one.”

Parada also said if Manila gets a seat at the UNSC, it can successfully and effectively steer the discourse on China through the regional and global platforms that the position can provide.  It can compel China to explain its actions in the disputed waterway.

Beijing continues to defy the 2016 ruling by the international arbitration court, which invalidated China’s nine-dash line and upheld the Philippines’ claim.

Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CENPEG) Chairperson and Professor Roland Simbulan sees the hand of the United States behind the move to go after the UNSC seat but warns that this will not be favorably received by our ASEAN neighbors.

The US will back the bid for the UNSC seat (so that) it can use the Philippines against China “but ASEAN countries might not support us knowing that the Philippines might be used by the US against their biggest trading partner,” Simbulan explained in a recent interview with Pinoy Portal Europe.

"They believe that the Philippine government is not consulting them before allowing the deployment of US missiles in the country," he added.

Simbulan also said that this will also negatively impact on the Philippines taking over the ASEAN chairmanship in 2026 after Malaysia. ###

Disclosure: Macel Ingles is Vice-Chairperson of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and is representing the Fight to Express Network as observer in the UN Human Rights Council 59th session. She is also the editor-in-chief of Pinoy Portal Europe.