The Women in The Bangsamoro Peace Process: History, Herstory

KUALA LUMPUR (MindaNews/28 January) — When the history of the peace process between the Philippine government (GPH) and the Bangsamoro is written, the story of the women who helped and are helping make it possible – inside the formal peace negotiations and on the ground — will certainly be one of the highlights of this 40-year journey to peace. 

The signatory for government when the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) between GPH and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is signed in February or March, 2014 would be Professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, the first woman panel chair in the 40-year negotiations (17 with the MILF), under an administration whose Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, is also a woman: Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles.

Kristian Herbolzheimer, Director of the Philippines Programme of the London-based Conciliation Resources, and a member of the International Contact Group (ICG) that accompanies the GPH-MILF peace process told MindaNews that the Mindanao peace process is, in fact, “one of the most gender-sensitive in the world.”

Ferrer, he said, is “probably the first ever (woman) chair of a negotiating panel signing a peace agreement” and women “have played a key role also in the MILF team as consultants on legal and political issues.”

Read morehttp://www.mindanews.com/peace-process/2014/01/28/special-report-the-women-in-the-bangsamoro-peace-process-history-herstory/

The Mindanao Peace Process: Can Indonesia Advance It?

Synopsis 

The recent violence in Zamboanga has prompted Indonesia to offer assistance in brokering peace in the southern Philippines, citing its role in the OIC and its experience with mediating peace. In view of the conflict’s complexity, are those credentials enough? 

Commentary

VIOLENCE SHOOK Zamboanga city in Mindanao, Philippines, for weeks in September 2013, leading to renewed calls for peace. The Indonesian government through Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa expressed Indonesia’s willingness to mediate peace in that strife-torn region. 

Quoting Indonesia’s role in the committee of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and its involvement in sealing a peace agreement between the government of the Philippines and rebels in 1996, Indonesia said that it was ready to facilitate peace talks at the request of the Philippine government and other concerned parties. While this offer deserves some attention, what are the prospects for Indonesia’s success at mediating peace in Mindanao? 

Muzaffarnagar Riot: Update

One has been hearing a number of versions of why and how violence broke out in Muzaffarnagar and the adjoining areas but the need of the hour lies in rebuilding lost trust and correcting the inhuman conditions that prevail in the relief camps, writes Mariya salim. 

NEARLY two months after riots broke out in Muzaffarnagar and the adjoining districts, the survivors continue to live in camps, more than 35,000 of them, in sub-humane conditions, too petrified to return to the villages they once referred to as “home”. With political mudslinging taking centrestage even after the violence continues to haunt people of both communities, a look at one of the relief camps, Malakpur, reminds one of how disastrous a riot can be for thousands of innocent victims.