(Anadolu photo)
MANILA – The Philippine government distanced itself from a United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution that called for the lifting of the state of emergency and the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained in the military coup d'etat in Myanmar earlier this month.
"The Philippines joined China, Russia, Venezuela, and Bolivia in dissociating itself from the HRC consensus that adopted the resolution but without taking a vote," Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodro Locsin Jr. said on Saturday.
The Philippine statement, delivered by recorded message for the Feb. 12 HRC special session on Myanmar, underscored the importance of recognizing the domestic efforts of a country towards democratic reforms.
"As a sovereign country in a world of sovereign states, the Philippines cannot stress strongly enough the primacy of national internal efforts towards democratic reforms, and never by the imposition of foreign solutions whether in regional or multilateral contexts, including through this Council," it said.
"We reaffirm our support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Myanmar," it added.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), dissociation does not necessarily mean a vote against the consensus, just that the "thinking is not exactly the same as those who joined the consensus.
In the session, China called on the international community, on the premise of "respecting Myanmar's sovereignty, political independence," to help all parties carry out dialogue and reconciliation.
'Restoration of status quo ante'
The Philippine government, meanwhile, reiterated its previous call for the "complete restoration of the status quo ante" as it backs Myanmar's pursuit of democracy.
It emphasized that Manila has been "supportive" of the Southeast Asian nation's progress towards a fuller democracy and acknowledged the military's role in preserving Myanmar's territorial integrity as well as the "unifying role" of its de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi's in the history of the country.
"Myanmar made important strides towards democratization in the past decade with the political presence of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, constitutional constraints on her key political role notwithstanding. This was clear in Myanmar’s engagement in the Universal Periodic Review last month," the statement read.
"The Philippines will settle for nothing less than, and nothing else but the complete restoration of the status quo in which Myanmar had made so much progress," it added.
In the resolution adopted without a vote, the UNHRC deplored the removal of Myanmar's elected government and called for its restoration.
The Council also urged the ruling military junta to take immediate steps to protect the peoples' rights in Myanmar and called for the "immediate lifting of restrictions on the Internet, telecommunication and social media, in accordance with international human rights law."
It also requested the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the country to assess the current human rights situation in Myanmar.
It called upon Myanmar authorities "to engage and cooperate with UN human rights mechanisms." (PNA)
