Madrid, Spain (19, Nov)–  Current and former diplomats and officials of regional inter-governmental organizations endorsed a campaign for a negotiated political settlement of the armed conflicts in the Philippines in a conference between civil society and multi-laeral organizations in Madrid today.

Two Deputy Secretary-Generals of reginal formations, a former Secreteray General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), senior officials, former ambassadors, and a former Dutch Defense Minister were among those who signed a petition of the One Million Voices for Peace in the Philippines (OMVP) campaign in the First International Conference Strenghtening Global Peace and Security for Development organized by the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) and the Organization of American States (OAS). The conference was hosted by the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB).

Ambassador Albert Ramdin, Deputy Secretary General of the OAS led the signatories. Ramdin was joined by Ms Andie Fong Toy, Deputy Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum and Ambassador Rodolfo Severino, former Secretary General of ASEAN. Other signatories were Dr. Joris Vooorhoeve, former Defense Minister of the Netherlands, Azizuddin Ahmadzada, Director at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Kwaku Asante, Senior Expert at the African Union Commission, Samuel Urrutia, President of the Business Council of Latin America (CEAL).

The Madrid conference tackled perspectives and experiences of civil society engagement with regional organizations particularly on issues of conflict prevention, peace-building and democracy. A Madrid Declaration calling for prevention as an effective and cost efficient approach to respond to crisis situations and encouraging partenrships among states, regional organizations and civil society to use such was issued at the end of the conference. An ad hoc steering committee composed of representatives of th different participants was likewise to be organized after the conference.

The OMVP is a campaign launched by the Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), a regional advocacy and soliadrity institution based in Davao City in Mindanao in Philiippines. IID is a founding member of GPPAC.

The OMVP was also recently endorsed by former Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines President and DAvao ARchbishop Fernando Capalla.

We, members of Women Engaged in Action on 1325 (United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325), a national network of women in human rights, women, and peace organizations, express our unequivocal rejection of war and military solution to the crisis arising from the October 18 tragedy in Al-barka, Basilan.

Roughly 30,000 civilians from affected communities in Basilan, Zamboanga Sibugay and Lanao provinces are now scattered in various evacuation camps while others seek refuge in homes of families and relatives who live away from the conflict areas. Majority of the internally displaced persons are women and children.

While We Act 1325 commends President Aquino for issuing a strict order on the primacy of the peace process, and the MILF for staying the course of the peace process, we ask the government and the MILF to:

1. Resume in earnest formal negotiations on the substantive agenda;
2. Take into account any violations of the ceasefire agreement and related mechanisms such as the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) guidelines and make the results of investigation available to the public;
3. Institute binding and strict measures that will compel adherence or compliance to all agreements forged between parties in conflict;
4. Respect the civilian character of evacuation camps and other defined safe spaces;
5. Uphold the government’s commitment to UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (and its succeeding resolutions) to ensure that women’s special needs in situations of conflict are prioritized and appropriately addressed, and their contributions valued and recognized;
6. Provide protection from sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence, especially in evacuation camps; and
7. Involve and engage the participation of more women in formal and informal peace negotiations or processes, as well as in relief and rehabilitation services in affected areas.

As women, we are alarmed that our voices and efforts for peace seem to be drowned by the loud drums of war.   We are dismayed by statements from politicians, journalists, media and even some bishops that frame the MILF as “the enemy” rather than a committed party to the peace negotiations and even ceasefire agreement.   They question   the peace policy and established processes of peacebuilding and confidence-building based on government’s   “six paths to peace”.   Unfortunately, they are playing to attitudes of machismo as well as ethnic and religious discrimination that are still dominant in our society.

We ask you to stop depicting the other as the enemy. Stop sowing hate. The costs of war increase when anti-peace sentiments and malicious statements are peddled this way. Hence, we appeal to all concerned to work instead in diffusing tension by promoting communication and understanding between parties in conflict.

War solves nothing.

WOMEN DEMAND ALL-OUT PEACE!

A prompt response to the encounter in Al-Barka, Basilan by means of the established mechanisms of the peace talks between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) – such as the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (JCCCH) – is a critical measure of the strength of mind of the leadership of the GPH and the MILF to hasten the realization of a political settlement of the armed conflict in Mindanao.

The GPH and MILF must ensure that the JCCH will act swiftly to prevent further loss of lives. Furthermore, relevant mechanisms of the peace talks such as the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) and the International Monitoring Team (IMT) must act immediately and help defuse the situation. The recent violent clashes illustrate the fragile nature of the ceasefire agreement and the difficulty in maintaining the truce. It would be supremely tragic if the continuing loss of lives will hold back the voices of peace and allow those seeking total war to triumph.

Beyond determining culpability for the recent spate of alleged violations to the ceasefire agreement, the GPH and MILF must comprehend that sustained and intensive negotiations at a faster pace is the right path towards giving justice to the hundreds of thousands who have been maimed, displaced, traumatized and worst killed, in the course of the armed conflict.

All must mourn the senseless deaths in Basilan and elsewhere in Mindanao, thus it is even-handed to call for justice. However, the supreme injustice that could happen is to cry out for more soldiers, mujaheedin and innocent civilians to die under total war.

The Mindanao Peaceweavers (MPW) commits itself to mobilize its peace constituency to continue to create parallel efforts at creating spaces for dialogues among all stakeholders to the peace process and help accelerate the goal of having a peace agreement. It is never too late to press for peace, but the time to give justice and meaning to all victims of the war in Mindanao by means of a negotiated political settlement is NOW.

MINDANAO PEACEWEAVERS
c/o INITIATIVES FOR INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE, Lead Secretariat
MOBILE: 0917.724.7579
EMAIL: kjcabusao@yahoo.com.ph