By Amb. Albert del Rosario
Chair, Stratbase ADR Institute
We call on Russia to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine and the sovereign right and will of its people to decide for themselves the course and fate of their nation. We also call on Russia to respect international law as we all live in one community of nations.
Sovereignty is a core norm of that community, and rule of law is the tie that binds all of us in that unity. A violation in one part of the body causes pain in another. We are all intertwined in that one precarious community. Whatever happens in the Baltics would have consequential implications in Asia.
While the sovereign equality of States principle obligates all member-States to respect the independence of each sovereign entity, nonetheless, the same principle likewise allows and even encourages its members to articulate on any violations against fully established norms of international law under the concept of international solidarity.
Keeping a deliberate blind eye on these violations or threats to fundamental principles of international law including respect for the sovereignty of another, regardless of wherever they occur, serves only to undermine the very fabric and architecture of the community that we all live in. It will eventually reduce that community into a precarious association of the mighty and powerful governed by the law of the jungle where might is right. In this scenario, small Power-States would have no relevance.
It is therefore the duty and obligation of every State-component of that community to respect the rule of law that has arguably preserved world peace since the last world war. It may not be perfect, but it is the optimal best that we have for now.