UN involves women in pursuit of peace

The armed conflict in Mindanao started six decades ago when the Moro National Liberation Front started to advocate for a “Moro homeland.” The government deployed the military to stop the separatist group, resulting in armed confrontations and displacement of the civilian population—muslims as well as Christians. In the 1970s, the government initiated peace talks and managed to obtain a peace agreement with the MNLF.

Republic Act 6734 created the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in accordance with a constitutional mandate to provide for an autonomous area in Muslim Mindanao. ARMM, however, fell into the hands of an inept leadership and miserably failed.

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was created after residents of the then-existing ARMM voted to ratify the Bangsamoro Organic Law in January 2019. The official turnover from the ARMM to BARMM took place on February 26, 2019, which meant the full abolition of the former. Murad Ebrahim took office as BARMM’S first chief minister.

A United Nations-sponsored program called Supporting Conflict Transformation Toward Effective Peace-building in the Bangsamoro Region (STEP-BARMM) was launched two years ago by the International Organization for Migration, UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Women, with support from the UN Secretary-general’s Peacebuilding Fund, to harness the potential of women, indigenous communities and youth. The program sought to strengthen the capacities of key regional and local institutions to respond to conflict during the BARMM’S transition period.

The UN recently announced STEP-BARMM’S completion, with results that have significantly contributed to normalization under the peace agreement as well as inclusive peace building in the Bangsamoro region.

The UN empowered 2,000 former women combatants from the Bangsamoro Islamic Women’s Auxiliary Brigade (BIWAB) to successfully transition to civilian life as successful entrepreneurs, para-social workers with the Ministry of Social Services and Development, and peace and gender champions in their communities via support to 15 BIWAB cooperatives generating sustainable livelihoods, and training on gender-based violence and peace building, a key objective of the peace agreement’s normalization track.

STEP-BARMM mainstreamed conflict understanding and prevention in BARMM institutions. It worked with the Bangsamoro Women’s Commission to operationalize and localize the Regional Action Plan on Women Peace and Security in 22 LGUS and supported the Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC) in developing the BYC Youth Policy Manual to engage the youth in shaping future peace and development initiatives.

STEP-BARMM supported the establishment of the Peace, Security, and Reconciliation Office under the Office of the BARMM Chief Minister to reinforce security and conflict mediation under the transition.

This move fostered community resilience in conflict hotspots by strengthening community policing and establishing or reviving local institutions as inclusive platforms with community partners, non-moro Indigenous Peoples community groups, and women conflict mediators to address increasingly inter-linked conflict and climate security risks requiring humanitarian, development, and peace building approaches.

“STEP-BARMM has provided an effective platform for stakeholders to come together and foster synergies and partnerships that will contribute to the creation of a more inclusive platform for peace building in BARMM,” said Director General Engr. Mohajirin T. Ali of the Bangsamoro Planning and Development Authority.

“In order to sustain these important peace building milestones, I emphasize the importance of strong partnership and collaboration between government and non-government stakeholders, as well as a whole-of-government/whole-of-society effort,” Ali added.

“Through the UN Peacebuilding Fund, the UN agencies have truly come together with government, civil society and communities to leverage our collective strength to support the Bangsamoro in the pursuit of peace as demonstrated by these achievements,” said Gustavo Gonzalez, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the Philippines.

Ma. Rosalyn Messina, Country Program Coordinator of UN Women, said that the joint program “showcased what we can all do together to promote peace and transform communities we serve, especially our women.”

With the UN working with women, youth, and BARMM authorities, it is hoped that lasting peace will reign in the Bangsamoro region. Kudos to the two-year STEP-BARMM program, which helped reduce community-based conflicts by involving Muslim women in addressing community security and strengthening local economic empowerment.