MIRIAM CORONEL-FERRER

ACTIVIST AND PEACE ADVOCATE

A prominent Filipino activist and peace advocate, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer is best known for her role in the peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

While a student at the University of the Philippines during the Martial Law era, CoronelFerrer became interested in political activism, which sparked a lifelong commitment to ending conflict through nonviolent strategies.

After the 1986 People Power Revolution, Coronel-Ferrer worked on finding peaceful resolutions to the many continuing armed conflicts in the country. She was one of the leaders in drafting the National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security, which was eventually adopted by the government in 2010.

In 2012, Coronel-Ferrer was appointed as the chief negotiator for the Philippine government in peace talks with the MILF, which sought to end the enduring conflict in Mindanao by addressing the historical grievances and aspirations of the Muslim-majority areas. Her work was instrumental in successfully negotiating the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in 2014, which paved the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). This earned her the distinction of being the first female chief negotiator in the world to sign a peace accord with a rebel group. This achievement led to her being awarded the Hillary Clinton Award for Advancing Peace and Security in 2015.

A champion of gender inclusivity in peacebuilding, Coronel-Ferrer co-founded Southeast Asian Women Peace Mediators in 2020, a group that promotes mediation initiatives in war-torn countries. She serves as the Senior Mediation Adviser at the United Nations Global Network of Women Peacebuilders and is a UN’s International Advisory Council member.

In 2023, Coronel-Ferrer became a recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for her “deep, unwavering belief in the transformative power of non-violent strategies in peacebuilding”.