29TH SPECIAL SESSION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS IMPLICATIONS OF THE CRISIS IN MYANMAR
10 am, 12 February 2021, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
Madame President,
The Philippines has been supportive of Myanmar’s progress towards a fuller democracy, cognizant of the Army’s role in preserving its territorial integrity and national security, as well as the unifying role of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the history of the country and Army her father founded. The Lady is a deeply and widely admired icon of democracy among the Filipino people who identify with her and her people, given similar struggles against tyranny in the not distant past; struggles that culminated in the complete restoration of democracy by unprecedented and entirely domestic efforts that inspired similarly successful efforts in the rest of the Cold War world. It has called for the complete restoration of the status quo ante, on which the full realization of this democratic process can only be achieved.
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 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.
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. We reaffirm our support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Myanmar.
Thank you, Madame President. END.