PRESS CONFERENCE BY PHILIPPINE FOREIGN SECRETARY

press conference by Philippine foreign secretary

Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, Delia Domingo Albert, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference today that tomorrow’s Security Council open debate on the role of civil society in post-conflict peace-building was expected to highlight how the United Nations and the Security Council in particular could harness the role of civil society in hastening the process of peace-building in various parts of the world.

Briefing correspondent’s ahead of the debate and following her meeting with Secretary-General Kofi Annan today, Mrs. Albert said that in her meeting with the Secretary-General she conveyed to him Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s appreciation of his support of the Security Council’s work, which the Philippines was now chairing.  She said she complemented the Secretary-General for his work in obtaining the historic and unanimous support for resolution 1546 on Iraq, which she considered an important milestone in the deliberations of the Council under the Philippine presidency.  The Secretary-General was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at tomorrow’s public debate.

Regarding her country’s quest to obtain observer status at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Mrs. Albert said her country was keen to have observer status in that body because it believed such participation would be helpful in the peaceful process regarding the security situation in the southern Philippines.  She said she looked forward to a final decision being taken at the next meeting of the Conference.

A correspondent asked her if tomorrow’s open session would touch on the rebuilding of Iraq, and if she had discussed the issue of the United Nations and Philippine role in that with the Secretary-General.  Mrs. Albert confirmed that her country’s role in those efforts had been conveyed, noting that there were 51 Filipino personnel in Iraq who were mainly focused on reconstruction as well as on added mandate of looking after their interests while they participated in the reconstruction of that country.  There were between four and five thousand Filipinos working on various projects there.

She said she also informed the Secretary-General that her country had invited some Iraqi police officers to train in the Philippines and was additionally looking at trilateral training programmes, including projects on the role of women in the reconstruction of the country.  To that end, the government had recently invited one of the ministers in the coalition government to examine various projects, including technical programmes for women, as well as programmes on governance, on building small- and medium-sized industries and those on microfinancing that could be undertaken with Iraq.  The Philippines considered those projects to be practical and would contribute to the country’s reconstruction.

A correspondent asked how her country proposed to give civil society a stronger role in post-conflict peace-building in conflict areas, such in Iraq and Afghanistan, and thus assure them greater security for the work they carried out, in light of the fact that civil society was under increasing threats in coping with those ongoing conflicts.

Mrs. Albert asserted that security was certainly an important concern that needed to be addressed and it was her country’s belief that since civil society had its “ears on the ground”, its contribution would be very useful in the assessment of how projects could proceed.  “Their exposure, their closer ties with the people as far as issues on the ground, would be a positive contribution for governments to assess how they will assist in the reconstruction of Iraq”, she said.

To a question on whether she had discussed with the Secretary-General the International Criminal Court resolution and her country’s position on the issue, she responded that the Philippines would like to be clear about how that would be managed.  Consequently, it was an issue the Filipino Permanent Representative, Lauro Baja, would soon be discussing with some members of the Council, taking into account the early indications of how that item on the agenda would be treated.

Mr. Baja said the United States resolution extending for a year the exemption granted last year was “in blue”; meaning that a vote could be called at any time.  But the Council President assured some 45 countries that had requested it that a public debate would be held before the vote was taken.  Asked if he had a date for that debate, Mr. Baja said it had been tentatively scheduled for 24 June, if the United States put the resolution to a vote.

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