PH to Withdraw from UN: Is it possible?

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte strikes again in his early morning press conference held yesterday, August 21, at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Depot in Davao City: he asked the United Nations (UN) to remove the Philippines from the organization.

 

(Photo of Pres. Duterte from Presidential Communications Operations Office; UN Logo grabbed from Wikimedia Commons)

 

He started by saying that the government already had numbers on how many lives the drug trade has affected versus the number of bodies the war on drugs has taken. He also criticized the UN by asking where they were during the country’s worst times.

“When were you here the last time? Never, except to criticize… When have you done a good deed to my country? You are contributing money, you are a member. Okay, we go out,” he said.

He also asked the “UN expert” to meet him either in the Philippines or in “another third world country” to talk about his administration’s war on drugs. While the name was not given, it is implied that he is referring to Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on Summary Executions.

Update (August 24, 2016): According to reports from news websites Philstar.com, Inquirer.net, and Rappler, Pres. Duterte was only joking when he told press that the Philippines should leave the UN.  He, however, insisted that UN officials should not call him out as a head of state, saying “There has to be a superior who will write a letter. Or there should be respect before saying anything about genocide.”

People have either supported or openly criticized the president for his remarks, but is such a feat possible?

According to an article written by Austrian jurist and professor at University of California, Berkley Hans Kelsen, the UN Charter “does not contain provisions for withdrawal, nor is it possible to find such clauses in the Dumbarton Oaks proposals.”

To date, the only way a country may cease being a member of the United Nations is to be expelled according to the provisions set in Article 6 of the UN Charter, which states that a member country may be expelled if they have “persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter.”

Only two countries have ever attempted to withdraw its membership from the UN since its inception:

● Indonesia sent a Letter of Withdrawal from UN after Malaysia was given a seat at the Security Council. They later “rejoined” the UN after a year of not participating in UN activities.

● Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers introduced a bill to get the United States of America out of the UN, which would repeal their UN Participation Act of 1945 and “terminate all membership by the United States in the United Nations, and in any organ, specialized agency, commission, or other formally affiliated body of the United Nations.”

The Philippines has not been considered for expulsion, but it can use Article 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. This would take effect if an unforeseen “fundamental change of circumstances” occurs.

 

Source: The Manila Times, CNN Philippines, Inquirer.net, GMA News Online, The New American, Philstar.com