MANILA, Philippines -- Exactly twenty-eight years ago, the
Philippines became the 11th state to ratify the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea.
On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario highlighted
the pact’s importance as the Scarborough standoff with China entered its
30th day.
Without naming China, del Rosario said in a statement: “UNCLOS has
never been more important for the Philippines than today, when
overlapping maritime claims threaten as never before the peace and
prosperity in our part of the world.”
He reiterated the Philippine position that UNCLOS, as well as other
international laws, is the rules-based way to settle the dispute.
These “are the way forward in addressing in a just, peaceful and
lasting manner the maritime disputes in the West Philippine Sea,” del
Rosario said.
“UNCLOS is the international law governing the rights and
responsibilities of nations -- big as well as small, rich or poor,
coastal and landlocked -- in their use of the world’s oceans. It
enshrines the norms that determine the rights of States over maritime
areas and contains important mechanisms for the peaceful settlement of
disputes on matters relating to the oceans,” he said.
The DFA chief also pointed out that aside from UNCLOS, the UN Manila
Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes, which
was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1982, will also celebrate its
30th anniversary this year.
The Manila declaration “is another historic and important document,
particularly at this time when the Philippines is exerting every effort
to address and resolve the conflicting claims in the West Philippine
Sea,” he said.
The Philippines was among the 159 countries that signed UNCLOS on December 10, 1982 in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
After the ratification of many countries, UNCLOS entered into force on November 16, 1994.
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| May 8, 2012 | Article Link
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