The Philippines’ invoked the United Nations’ commitment to the rule of law in support of an imminent decision by an arbitral tribunal in The Hague constituted to hear the Philippines’ case on the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea disputes.
Ambassador Lourdes O. Yparraguirre, the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that States Parties to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea were apprised of developments in the arbitration proceedings since its last annual meeting.
“We believe in the fairness and thoroughness of the arbitral proceedings, the binding character of the outcome, and the need for all States Parties to the Convention and all members of the international community to respect this outcome.” Ambassador Yparraguirre emphasized in her statement.
The ambassador informed the meeting that the arbitral tribunal entered deliberations for a final decision after its hearings on the merits and the remaining issues on admissibility held at The Hague, Netherlands from November 24 to 30, 2015.
Yparraguirre also called on the international community to strengthen, rather weaken, UNCLOS by supporting the enforcement of the forthcoming arbitral award. According to her, the enforcement of the award “will depend on our collective will to enforce it as States Parties and through the United Nations, because we believe in the rule of law to follow obligations which we have assumed.”
It will be recalled that on October 29, 2015, the tribunal found that it had jurisdiction to hear the Philippines’ case against China’s so-called nine-dash line claiming virtually all of the South China Sea, and that China as a State Party to UNCLOS would be bound by its decision even if it chose not to participate in the proceedings.
In its own statement, China, through its Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Wu Haitao, remarked that the annual meeting of States Parties to UNCLOS is not a forum to raise the concerns of the Philippines and Viet Nam, another claimant country.
