{"id":7418,"date":"2016-08-22T17:58:31","date_gmt":"2016-08-22T09:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/?p=7418"},"modified":"2016-08-24T10:04:34","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T02:04:34","slug":"ph-to-withdraw-from-un-is-it-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/2016\/08\/22\/ph-to-withdraw-from-un-is-it-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"PH to Withdraw from UN: Is it possible?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">President Rodrigo Roa Duterte strikes again in his early morning <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/I5WbqN-LR8I?t=1h58m22s\" target=\"_blank\">press conference<\/a> 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7420\" src=\"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/08\/prrdxun-1024x432.jpg\" alt=\"prrdxun\" width=\"850\" height=\"359\" srcset=\"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/08\/prrdxun-1024x432.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/08\/prrdxun-300x127.jpg 300w, https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/08\/prrdxun-768x324.jpg 768w, https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/08\/prrdxun.jpg 1700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>(Photo of Pres. Duterte from <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/+PCOOEDP\/photos\/photo\/6305192845291450562?pid=6305192845291450562&amp;oid=104050303641660365574\"><em>Presidential Communications Operations Office<\/em><\/a><em>; UN Logo grabbed from <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/3\/35\/Logo_of_the_United_Nations.png\"><em>Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/a><em>)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">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\u2019s worst times.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">\u201cWhen were you here the last time? Never, except to criticize\u2026 When have you done a good deed to my country? You are contributing money, you are a member. Okay, we go out,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">He also asked the \u201cUN expert\u201d to meet him either in the Philippines or in \u201canother third world country\u201d to talk about his administration\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><em>Update (August 24, 2016):\u00a0<\/em>According to reports from news websites<em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.philstar.com\/headlines\/2016\/08\/23\/1616596\/remark-about-leaving-un-just-joke-duterte-says\">Philstar.com<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/globalnation.inquirer.net\/143179\/duterte-on-un-pullout-cant-you-take-a-joke\">Inquirer.net<\/a><\/em>, and\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rappler.com\/nation\/143980-duterte-united-nations-threat-joke\">Rappler<\/a>,<\/em> Pres. Duterte was only joking when he told press that the Philippines should leave the UN. \u00a0He, however, insisted that UN officials should not call him out as a head of state, saying &#8220;There has to be a superior who will write a letter. Or there should be respect before saying anything about genocide.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">People have either supported or openly criticized the president for his remarks, but is such a feat possible?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">According to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/443041?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents\" target=\"_blank\">article<\/a> written by Austrian jurist and professor at University of California, Berkley Hans Kelsen, the UN Charter \u201cdoes not contain provisions for withdrawal, nor is it possible to find such clauses in the Dumbarton Oaks proposals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">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 <a href=\"https:\/\/treaties.un.org\/doc\/publication\/ctc\/uncharter.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">UN Charter<\/a>, which states that a member country may be expelled if they have \u201cpersistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">Only two countries have ever attempted to withdraw its membership from the UN since its inception:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">\u25cf Indonesia sent a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/20689903?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents\" target=\"_blank\">Letter of Withdrawal from UN<\/a> after Malaysia was given a seat at the Security Council. They later \u201crejoined\u201d the UN after a year of not participating in UN activities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">\u25cf Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers introduced a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenewamerican.com\/usnews\/congress\/item\/21058-congressman-mike-rogers-introduces-bill-to-get-u-s-out-of-un\" target=\"_blank\">bill<\/a> to get the United States of America out of the UN, which would repeal their UN Participation Act of 1945 and \u201cterminate 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">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 \u201cfundamental change of circumstances\u201d occurs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Source: <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.manilatimes.net\/duterte-threatens-to-pull-ph-out-of-un-2\/281277\/\"><em>The Manila Times<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/cnnphilippines.com\/news\/2016\/08\/21\/Duterte-threatens-to-leave-U.N..html\"><em>CNN Philippines<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/globalnation.inquirer.net\/143065\/duterte-threatens-to-take-ph-out-of-un\"><em>Inquirer.net<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gmanetwork.com\/news\/story\/578390\/news\/nation\/duterte-says-wants-to-confront-un-experts-threatens-to-leave-international-body\"><em>GMA News Online<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenewamerican.com\/usnews\/congress\/item\/21058-congressman-mike-rogers-introduces-bill-to-get-u-s-out-of-un\"><em>The New American<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.philstar.com\/news-feature\/2016\/08\/22\/1616117\/can-duterte-withdraw-philippine-membership-un\"><em>Philstar.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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. \u00a0 (Photo of Pres. Duterte from Presidential Communications Operations Office; UN Logo grabbed from Wikimedia Commons) \u00a0 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\u2019s worst times. \u201cWhen were you here the last [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-current-events"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/08\/PH7-_MG_6292-e1471859882624.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7418"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7458,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7418\/revisions\/7458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}