Philippines scored for ‘empty chair’ at UN meet on Syria

Syrian President Bashar Assad. AP

The Philippines’ decision to leave an empty chair at the United Nations Human Rights Council’s discussions on atrocities in Syria was “reprehensible,” according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

HRW Asia researcher Carlos Conde said the wish to protect Filipino workers in Syria need not have stopped the Philippines from participating in the UN council’s discussions, especially since the country could abstain from voting on a council resolution as it had done in the past.

The Philippines was reportedly the only country absent when the UN Human Rights Council met on June 1 to vote on a draft resolution condemning the recent massacre of over 100 civilians in Syria, which was blamed on the regime of President Bashar Assad.

“What is reprehensible is for a member state of the Human Rights Council to leave an empty chair. The June 1 session focused on the killing of more than 100 innocent civilians, including children, and the Philippines didn’t even take the time to participate in discussions and the vote on the killings,” Conde told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Last week, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told the Inquirer  the Philippines was not joining other United Nations member states in condemning the regime of President Bashar al-Assad for the massacre of more than 100 civilians.

Instead, Del Rosario said in a text message that the Philippines was “maintaining a strategic silence on the situation in Syria, as we are focused on the safety and welfare of several thousands of our people that remain there.”

Conde said the government did not have to forego its duty to protect overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) while it did its part to help improve the situation in the Middle East country.

“While we understand the Philippine government’s position that it needs the Syrian government’s cooperation to evacuate OFWs from Syria, we think the Philippines is creating a false choice between doing what’s best to protect the Filipino workers and helping to end the human rights crisis in Syria,” he said.

Conde pointed out that Filipino workers would face greater risks if the situation in Syria worsened.

“The Human Rights Council is one avenue for trying to prevent that downslide and the Philippines should be working with other countries to end the atrocities. Virtually all the Human Rights Council members supported the June 1 resolution denouncing Syria,” he said.

The Philippines could have abstained from voting on the resolution even if it participated in the discussion, Conde said, adding that the country had taken this tack in previous instances.

He also scored Del Rosario for saying the country’s stance on Syria was one of “strategic silence.”

“We think this position only explains the government’s decision to abstain from three past votes on Syria at the UN but not the empty chair on Friday,” he said.