Vote of Gratitude

“I don’t know who is contesting. I don’t understand politics. I have come here only because my husband directed me to. He told me the symbol and number I should choose.”

As I watched a group of sheep grazing next to the pooling booth, I was forced to ponder over the words I had heard, from the only woman who had dared to defy the norms and accompany her husband to the polling station, in my area. I wondered whether I could dare to compare the two.

This couple riding on a motor bike, breaking the deafening silence, had emerged out of nowhere towards the polling booth, raising many brows as to who was daring to defy the norm. Their faces were half-covered as though, in embarrassment, to hide the shame of going against the tide, to exercise what is believed to be the democratic right of any citizen – they had come to vote!

Working Inside the Triangles: Engaging with Locally Led Peace Initiatives in Myanmar

This paper does not provide an in-depth analysis of the country’s current context or a detailed history of how it got to where it is now. Many other excellent papers exist that serve that purpose. Also it is written from the subjective viewpoint of an outsider who can never know or understand the whole story. At the same time, my distance from the day to day, puts me in a position to stand back and consider the big picture in a way that those who are down in the trenches may not have the luxury to do. Thus, this paper is intended as a quick snapshot taken at a moment in time. Its purpose is to communicate to the reader some of the concerns and challenges that friends and colleagues shared, as well as insights into the exciting and innovative approaches that are being carried forward by local actors to address those challenges; I want to share how those approaches, informed by an in-depth understanding of the context that can come only from local actors, offer lessons to long-term peacebuilding work. My goal is to also share this snapshot so that it might raise awareness among international actors as they think about their own engagement in a highly complex conflict situation, and the potential that their interventions have for either making the situation worse or

supporting long-term peacebuilding.

You can download the complete version of the book at this link 

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About the Author

Sarah Clarke is a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. In New York, she works on peacebuilding and peacemaking issues at the UN. She has also worked with a wide variety of NGOs in Southeast Asia, and with policy advisors and academics in China.

Resolving Conflict in Muslim Mindanao

The papers contained in this publication discuss and explore issues of recognition and self-determination, through the examination of traditional dispute settlement mechanisms from communities across the island, and the ways in which they co-exist with modern, non-indigenous practices in the country. Whilst often sidelined and overshadowed by modern systems, these mechanisms are critical for the continuity of traditional judicial practices, and for achieving the acknowledgment and respect necessary for the future of indigenous ways of life.

The four studies seek, through an academic lens, to investigate the use of traditional mechanisms and determine their effectiveness through research and analysis. These papers also aim to gauge and promote deeper understanding of the benefits these mechanisms possess, not only for indigenous people but for the Filipino community at large. 

It also stands to showcase the traditional judicial customs of indigenous peoples of Mindanao, for whom the island is a continuing source of pride and identity, and to celebrate the dedication and accomplishment of the authors, who as key peace practitioners in Mindanao have made exciting contributions to peace building efforts in their communities. 

Role of Magindanaun Datus in Conflict Resolution, by Abubakar Datumanong, examines the role of traditional forms of justice and dispute resolution through the lens of the Datu in Maguindanao province. This paper aims to promote the inherent value of this conflict resolution method, and to identify the specific perceptions of peace and conflict amongst these respected members of the community in indigenous Mindanaoan communities. 

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? 

What is the meaning of resettlement in Sri Lanka: "We want our land back as we are also citizens of Sri Lanka".

When you read the field visit report of the resettlement of the Internally Displaced People[IDPs] you all will realize the reality of the so called resettlement scheme of the country. Uduppitty, Moor Street, Mullikulam, displaced camps as well as so called Thiru Murugandi, and Sinnaveli resettled camps are the places where we visited in this field work.

"It is well planned revenge against us." This is some of the complains we heard from various community members in the northern province and which is an unfortunate situation. It is justifiable criticism of the northern province IDPs when the government is not take care of those people, their needs and fulfill their reasonable aspirations with due respect and care.

Some of the people in those camps said, "Government act deliberately forgetting there is a remaining group of IDP like us to resettle in the country."

The government very firmly says that there the most of IDPs have been resettled and there is only very small number of people are remaining to resettle in the north. The general public in the south of Sri Lanka also trust highly those media reports without any doubts. There is a big question mark about the free media as well though this is not the time to discuss it.

The complete version of report can be seen here

Peace Message from Afghanistan Towards Women's Participation in Peacebuilding

We thank the committee members, elders, scholars ,teachers, members of civil society, ladies, gentlemen, brothers and sisters of Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar and Noristan provinces for their participation, sharing ideas and practical contribution in the conference entitled “ Women Participation in Peace ” . 

As it is clear to all that the people of Afghanistan faced enormous difficulties over the past three decadesand this series is still ongoing. Innocent Afghans are killedunder the name of Terrorism, Freedom, and Islam by the funding and weapons of aliens. 

Taking into consideration this bitter reality we, the participants of this conference on the representative of Women and Afghan nation present and declare the following message to all Political leaders, Religious scholars, Armed oppositions,National, regional and international leaders. 

1. Continuation of war in Afghanistan is not in any one’s benefit andthose who are fueling the violence and war, they themselves would be victim of this fire. Our people have known this reality very well and won’t be deceived by alien’s conspiracy anymore. They knew who are behind of this war and what their aims are. Therefore, it is our duty to call on all conflicting parties, the Islamic government of Afghanistan, the leaders of Taliban, leaders of the Political parties, Members of civil societies and all other Afghans to work together for the sustainability and expedition of the peaceprocess. We hopethat all conflicting sides prepare themselves for negotiation and they should not torture the oppressed nation anymore sothat to strengthen stability and living with each other in peace. 

2. AS a representative of Afghan women we strongly request from our brothers and elders to end violence and conflicts, pave the way for the implementation of peace of peace process in our war torn community and avoid outside intervention.We expect our leaders to prove that they are faithful and real servants of the people of the country. 

3. We call on the world and regional leaders to avoid any negative intervention in the Afghan internal issues and cooperate for promoting Peace and stability.Because peace and stability in Afghanistan would ensure Peace and stability in the region andworld. 

4. We all have to understand that the root causes behind these wars and conflicts are the elements that contribute to the continuation of this war; therefore these elements need to be recognized, identified and amended. Without this, achievement to a peaceful solution is impossible. So we demand all parties to identify and eradicate the root causes of current violence. 

5. We want all conflicting partiesthat in peace talks the women rights should be taken into consideration and peace struggle should never be in the context that we ignore women’s rights which have been given by Islam and Afghans culture. 

6. The Holy and unique book of Allah (Quran Karim), Afghan culture, and international principles order that women and children must be treated respectfully and mercifully in the war situations, unfortunately we see such examples that children and women are kept hostage and then asking for ransom or other demands, this will be an obvious violation against the Islamic principles and rules that disgrace Afghans by using the holy name of Islam. Once again we call upon all the stakeholders and urge them to stop doing such actions and give Afghans reassurance that they will never sacrifice the lives of women and children in getting their political aims. 

7. Our community is an Islamic, Afghan and peaceful community.All Afghans whether or not involved in fight and violence, should promote brotherhood In the light of Islamic principles, values and Afghan customs, and on the basis of human values such as patience, trust, tolerance andsympathy should develop and strengthen peace process in the national, regional and international levels. 

8. The people of Afghanistan announce their readiness for the Election. Sothe success of this election depends upon the participation of men and women to votes for electing their upcoming leaders.This is only possible at the time when the people of Afghanistan especially women who are half of the whole population of the country should be given permission to take part in the election.We expect that at the time of election, violation must not be happened so that we can show to the region and the world that our people can resolve many issues by mutual interaction,understanding, peaceful and constructive talks. 

9. Let us work hard for the reconstruction and maintenance of the national unity in our country so that to create Afghanistan, the Home of Peace and stability in the world and region. Our people have faced a lot of hardships in different stages of the history, but this country’s sovereignty has been savedby strong leadership of our leaders and the cooperation and sacrifices of the people. 

Once again it is the time to work and struggle together for ensuring peace and stability in the country.

Jalalabad, September 22, 2013

Lesson from N-Peace and Reflection on Women, Peace and Security

Recently I was invited to speak about women, peace and security in HQ office of UNDP in New York on 1-2 October 2013. The two days workshop was aimed to review a new initiative called N-Peace and had reflection on UN security council on 1325 in global and national context. It was amazed to hear about quick progress of N-Peace in two years that is able to connect different women peacebuilders in different places in Asia Pacific, especially in Nepal, Afghanistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Timor Leste, and Srilanka. What the most interesting part of Radhika’s presentation was about recognition of women working in peacebuilding and engaging dialogue with different women actors of peacebuilder. More than 2 million people connected with social media of N-Peace within 2 years is indicating that public is enthusiasm to the initiative and willing to mobilize members of N-Peace. However, critical questions from Jennifer F. Klot from Social Science Research Council regarding, who started to doubt the agenda of feminism, which bring women-centered approach could fasten transformation, especially in bringing women into government system, presumably it will able to change the attitude of government. However, in many context of countries, we witness that there are increasing number of women representation in the decision making process, does not parallelly contribute to structural change. Why?

The question was also raised from Josephine, to reflect the country context of the Philippines, where civil societies are very vibrant and active in responding global and national agenda, to settle formal and informal structure to push peace talks happening inside the country, but it seems end with not “so positive” result. Including the implementation of NAP 1325, which is able to promote number of women in peace talks structure, on the other hand conflict are still going on. Similarly, in Indonesia I also felt that there are some good regulations that promote human rights and protect people’s life, but in many cases do not parallel change the behavior of people. For instance the 1945 constitution that recognizes freedom for religion, but at grass root level, a certain group is fighting for “absolute truth” and against other group. To connect people through N-Peace is good thing, but to mobilize N-Peace’s member is challenge because this should be under designed, so we will have a picture of how to use pull of resources within country and outside country. Is N-Peace strong enough to contribute to structural change in the future?

As we know that the implementation of the UN security council on resolution 1325 on women, peace and security into national concrete agenda is not smooth. Partly, it is because only 39 out of 139 UN member states have adopted the resolution to a National Action Plan (NAP). In my opinion, the other reason is also because there is a big disconnection in different levels. Firstly, there is disconnection on women, peace and security agenda with the other UN resolution such as UNR 1860 (provides an accountability system for addressing conflict-related sexual violence), 1888 (Strengthens tools for implementing 1820 through assigning leadership, building judicial response expertise, and reporting mechanisms), 1889 (Addresses women’s exclusion from early recovery and peacebuilding and lack of adequate planning and funding for their needs), 1920 (first to recognize conflict-related sexual violence as a tactic of warfare and a critical component of the main-tenance of international peace and security, requiring a peacekeeping, justice, and peace negotiation response).

Secondly, disconnection of agenda women, peace and security is with human rights instrument such as human rights declaration, CEDAW, ICCPR, ICESR etc. What I mean by disconnection is because the implementation of UNR 1325 separately from other instruments, and no mechanism how to mainstream the agenda 1325 into related human rights instrument, especially within the national context. When it is translated into NAP 1325, then this does not have a bridging mechanism to other existing NAP.  At least I am talking about context of Indonesia, which we have some NAPs relating to human rights, disability, greenhouse gas emission reduction, REDD implementation etc. These NAPs are implementing with “silent” communication.  

Thirdly, other big disconnection of WPS with the global agenda on development, environment justice, South-South cooperation, global partnership etc.  So, we often seen that women, peace , security agenda separate concern with the global agenda on post 2015 development agenda, APEC, G20 etc. I think it is because the peace and development platform could not find the core common intersection concept and lack of knowledge management on best practice of peace and development project in different part of the world that has not yet spread widely, so people do not have clear picture of peace and development intervention during reconstruction and rehabilitation aftermath. As an impact of disconnection is the working mechanism within civil society organization (CSO) and also grant making organization because indicator of each project may not relate to WPS. 

Fourthly, disconnection between national and local, where N-peace members lies from Aceh to Papua. This become strength when mechanism of mobilizing people and knowledge is effective working. So, national advocacy will be supported by local groups. This needs more than formal dialogue, it needs intensive communication and regular update of best practice from the field and manage the knowledge in such a creative way so other regions could learn.

In the context of Indonesia, women peacebuilders are spreading to different islands, so it needs effective mechanism how to engage them actively in the national and global advocacy. However, it needs to have organic movement, which is beyond formal meeting to actively provide a space for exchange experiences and knowledge in the context of multi disciplines. So, collective national leadership should be mechanism to strength the movement and engage them actively in the global agenda, so WPS is not just translated to UNR 1325 without communicating with CEDAW and other human rights instrument both in national and international level. In practical way, all program of agency must reflect clear indicators of WPS, including gender sensitive one.

Some proposals came up from the forum to strengthen collective leadership and strength mobilization that could make priority of N-Peace in the future. “Is it possible to treat N-Peace beyond the project”. Because there is strong need to have cultural movement building that is often overlooked because “project framework”. Other proposal for N-Peace is to strength communication mechanism within country and engage with regional mechanism such as ASEAN institute on Peace and Reconciliation, and global agenda such as Post 2015 development agenda, G 20 etc. For the sake of national advocacy, N-peace should create mechanism of mobilizing members to support the agenda continuously. Currently Bill on gender equality is being advocated by some women’s group, how N-Peace members could pour greater energy to succeed the advocacy. The cross cutting issues must be chosen as the best way to integrate WPS agenda to other development agenda.

To end my reflection, I would like to quote from Josephine’s statement during our conversation that “CSO in Asia is strong. Without N-Peace, they have existed for long time. When they joint with N-Peace, it should have added value.”  ***

Written by Ruby Kholifah, country representative of AMAN Indonesia

The ugly side of Kashmir, Do We Respect Women?

In a bizarre incident, first of its kind in Kashmir, a father of a four year old girl, from north Kashmir was found guilty of murdering his daughter, Muskaan. The motive behind the murder is a gruesome case of honor killing.

“Khale shaakhein bula rahie hain, 

Phuloo awao, kahan gaye ho…” Ahmed Mushtaq

The father on questioning confessed his crime and the reasons behind the murder. He admitted that his suspicious about him not being the biological father of the girl grew as the girl was born before nine months of their marriage. As such over a period of time; he had developed hatred for her. The other motive of killing had been greed as his wife happened to be a Panch member. He planned the murder in such a way that the blame of the killing will fall on militants and he could demand cash compensation from the government in return.

Is Positive Peace with Us? Exchange Program of Muslim Women from Aceh, Pattani and Mindanao

On the occasion of AMAN’s 20th anniversary held in Pattani in January 2011, AMAN organized a workshop titled “Women in Armed Conflict”. This workshop was a part of its Assembly that focused on Multi-culturalism and World Peace. The workshop brought together women living in conflict areas and through experience-sharing and analysis of women’s roles as peace builders, addressed the relevant issues and formulated recommendations regarding the problems faced by women in areas such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Aceh, Mindanao, Myanmar/Burma, Kashmir, Manipur in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

As a follow up to the workshop, AMAN brought together eight women two from Southern Thailand (Mrs. Gareeman Saree-Nga, Yaseming Yama, Haibah Lohma), three from Mindanao (Remma Baban, Ruby Andong, and Mo'mina Abdul Jalal), and Aceh (Rizki Afiat, Kusmawati Moh. Hatta, Yusdarita) who are either affected by armed conflict and/or work for women and children affected by the same. The workshop was held in April 21 to may 3, 2012 comprising of class orientation, field visit to Aceh and Pattani, and reflection. To get insight experiences of women living in conflict area, AMAN invited eight women from Aceh, Pattani and Mindanao to document stories of women during their visits to Aceh after peace agreement comparing with situation of Muslim women in Pattani, who struggling for access to justice till now.