Cooperating for Democracy

Mr. Chairman, I wish to congratulate you on your assumption of the chairmanship of our Community.  You can count on the full cooperation of the Philippines in support of your stewardship, particularly in carrying out the decisions contained in our 2005 Santiago Ministerial Commitment on “Cooperating for Democracy.”

I would also like to commend your predecessor for the exemplary shepherding of our Community.  I extend my delegation’s appreciation for Chile’s successful hosting of the Third Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies in Santiago last April.

Enlarged Convening Group

At the outset, let me assure you of the readiness of the Philippines to serve as member of an enlarged Convening Group of our Community.

As the largest region, Asia deserves to have more than two members in the Convening Group.  I submit that our strong national democratic institutions, track record in the defense of democracy as the oldest republic in Asia, leadership in the International Conference on Newly Restored Democracies as its founder, as the credentials of the Philippines for membership in our expanded bureau.

People-Oriented World Summit Outcome

Our leaders adopted by consensus last Friday the landmark “World Summit Outcome” resolution which addressed the web of challenges confronting our peoples’ freedom from want, freedom from fear and freedom to live in dignity.

The Summit’s decisions and commitments are all aimed at serving our people whose well-being is the very purpose for the creation of the United Nations.

The Summit outcome emphasized, after 60 years of UN existence, that the people are the real beneficiaries of development and of a peaceful and safe world, and whose rights and fundamental freedoms must be safeguarded with utmost vigilance.

Consequently, as we pursue the basic purpose of our Community, “to promote democratic principles and consolidate democratic institutions,” let us not forget that these principles and institutions are meant to serve our people and advance their welfare.

Allow me to highlight three areas addressed both by our Community’s Santiago Ministerial Commitment and the World Summit Outcome, as they relate to promoting the welfare of our people.

Debt Burden

Poverty has been regarded as the foremost challenge to development.  Several approaches have been identified but the funding for these poverty-oriented measures has been least emphasized.

The President of the Philippines proposed during the summit a concrete step to hurdle this financing issue through a debt-for-equity swap whereby 50% of the amount for debt servicing should be converted as equities in the developing countries’ MDG-related including sustainable development projects.

The scheme does not call for new financial flows from developed to developing countries.  It does not call for debt cancellation or even debt relief or debt discount.  Creditors will profit from the returns on their equities in development projects.

This proposal would benefit more than 100 heavily indebted countries that are severely handicapped in fighting poverty because of debt-servicing obligations.

It is estimated that the scheme could generate more than 2.3 trillion US dollars for development purposes, a super “Marshall Plan” type of assistance in which both debtor and creditor will profit – bolstering individual national efforts to create more jobs, provide electricity, clean water, housing, hospitals and other basic services to the poor.

The outstanding features of the Philippine initiative are that (1) the debt-for-equity scheme will be on a voluntary basis under which debtor and creditor enter into such an arrangement as that of a foreign direct investment, and (2) the debtor country must satisfy such criteria as capability to fight corruption, enactment of requisite laws and other steps to minimize risk to this kind of investment.

In this regard, I propose that our initiative be considered by our Community with all seriousness as another important scheme to fight poverty.

Migrant Workers

The Philippines is grateful to each and every delegation here present for agreeing by consensus to its proposals for the inclusion of the protection of the rights of migrant workers in both the summit outcome and the Santiago commitments.

We may have an array of international instruments promoting and safeguarding human rights but woefully the rights of migrant workers and their families have not yet been universalized.

Unless their rights are internationally protected, the stigma of discrimination will haunt us.  Migrant workers and their families deserve particular attention because they are beyond the protective reach of their own governments.

In these two outcome documents, there is recognition that migrant workers do not only provide economic benefits to their countries of origin but also to their countries of destination.

Migration has multi-dimensional implications which have to be addressed in a collective fashion.  Migration is a reality we can neither overlook nor prevent as it follows the law of supply and demand.  Its origin is as ancient as human history that brought forth prosperity to many countries.

In this connection, I propose that our community give special attention to this lacuna in our peoples’ freedom to live in dignity in keeping with our democratic principles in the field of human rights promotion and protection.  In particular, I invite governments here present to accede to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Their Families.

Interfaith Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace

My final point, Mr. Chairman, relates to our peoples’ freedom from fear.  Peace and security at both the national and international levels cannot see the end of the tunnel if the problem of widening inter-cultural and inter-civilizational divide is not addressed.

My delegation is pleased that, through our initiative, both the summit and our Community recognize the importance of forging enhanced understanding among our peoples and respect for their cultures.

It must, however, be borne in mind that religions are the bedrocks of cultures and civilizations and that religious leaders have strong influence over their flocks especially in facilitating reconciliation and in forging peace from conflicts and in stemming the tide of terrorism.

The Philippines has been regarded as the key exponent of interfaith dialogue and cooperation for peace.  It has organized the international tripartite conference on interfaith cooperation for peace last June and successfully organized the informal summit last week here in New York, which adopted a declaration open to adherence to governments sharing the same vision of a democratic approach to conflict-prevention and conflict-resolution.

Thank you.

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