Del Rosario warns against settling disputes by force

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario

MANILA, Philippines—Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has warned against settling disputes by armed force, saying at a United Nations meeting that “the cost of conflict is too high in lives lost, in futures destroyed and in what must be done to rebuild.”

Speaking before a UN meeting on mediation on Wednesday, Del Rosario said, “We had to learn our lesson the hard and tragic way — by opening our doors to the pain, loss and suffering that the scourge of war can bring.”

“Settling disputes by peaceful means and not by armed force is what united us to build our organization over 60 years ago…. At the heart of the UN is the hallowed obligation to settle our disputes peacefully. Our charter enshrines this peremptory norm. Our efforts to bring mediation to the fore reinforce this normative challenge,” he said.

According to Del Rosario, whose country is currently enbroiled in territorial disputes with China, the UN charter “also mandates the observance of the doctrine of the sovereign equality of states.”

“The sad reality is that the vast political and economic differences between states, including those in dispute, often render this doctrine dead letter law,” he added.

The high-level meeting on mediation was convened and chaired by Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser, president of the UN General Assembly.

“The Philippines was invited to speak as a leading voice in global mediation efforts,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a press statement.

“When parties are in a dispute, differences in political and economic power can often weigh against a fair, just, peaceful and lasting resolution,” Del Rosario said in his speech. “Mediation and other third-party mechanisms can level the playing field. These help ensure that although one party may lack in power, it can make up for it through reliance on the rule of law.”

Del Rosario also cited the Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes adopted in 1982 by the UN General Assembly.

Del Rosario said he firmly believed the declaration “remains relevant.”

“The Declaration stressed what is sometimes forgotten — that sovereign states that make up the world community are under a legal obligation to settle disputes in a peaceful manner. This is the most fundamental of legal norms in our world. If this most basic norm did not exist, there would be no substratum or infrastructure on which international law could rest on,” he said.