Ferrer Acclaimed by Int’l Body for Role in Bangsamoro Pact

Bangkok, Thailand – Government of the Philippines chief negotiator Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, the world’s first woman to sign a major peace agreement as lead negotiator, received acclaim from N-Peace Awards, an international, Asian-based awarding body for spearheading the completion and signing of the historic Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) between the GPH and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).‎

Launched in 2011 by the United Nations Development Program, the N-Peace Awards give recognition to notable peace workers from around the globe. N-Peace is a country network of peace advocates in Asia seeking to advance women, peace and security issues. It supports women’s leadership for conflict prevention, resolution and peace-building and promotes the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, and related resolutions at regional, national and community levels.

N-Peace honors Coronel-Ferrer for being “an inspiring mobilizer and campaigner for peace in the Philippines and beyond.” She is one of two awardees in the “Campaigning for Action-Women and Men Mobilizing for Peace” category.

Afghanistan’s Hajji Khalil, a former Taliban jihadist who now heads a provincial Peace Council was the other awardee. He was cited for involving more than 1,500 fellow-Talibans in the activities of the Afghan Peace and Reintegration Program, ably mediating numerous tribal conflicts, and supporting the empowerment of Afghan women.

During the Awards Ceremony held Friday, October 24 at the VIE Hotel in this Asian city, N-Peace Awards further cited Coronel-Ferrer for “having campaigned and mobilized people and resources and influenced policies around several issues, from banning landmines to getting women’s voices and priorities on the decision-making table.” She was also cited for being “hugely influential” and for “her leadership role in the CAB, which was signed in March 2014, signaling the end of the five-decade armed conflict between Moro combatants and the government.”

Coronel-Ferrer was collectively selected by a special panel composed of a group of prominent peace leaders in different parts of the world.

Women making peace happen

Coronel-Ferrer, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, served as a senior panel member of the government in talks with the MILF when negotiations resumed in July 2010 under the Aquino administration. In December 2012, she was appointed GPH peace panel chair.

Prior to her leadership in the peace talks, she was among the 27 Filipinos nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for her active role in peace building.

In 1995, she co-founded with lawyer Soliman Santos, Jr., the Philippine Campaign to Ban Landmines (PCBL) , which successfully lobbied the government to sign the international treaty prohibiting the use, production and trading of landmines. As co-chair of the Non-State Actors Working Group of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), she led missions urging non-state armed groups to also stop using landmines. Among the armed groups who committed to the mine ban were the MILF and the communist Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA).

The ICBL won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.

Coronel-Ferrer was also co-founder and lead convenor of the Sulong CARHRIHL, a national network of organizations promoting the observance of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law. Sulong CARHRIHL facilitated the drafting of the National Action Plan (NAP) on the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women and Peace Building which was adopted by the Philippine government in 2010.

The women who were mobilized in drawing up the NAP organized the Women Engaged in Action on 1325 (WEAct 1325). The network’s founding convener, Miriam College (MC) professor and director of the MC’s Center for Peace Education, Jasmin Nario-Galace, nominated Coronel-Ferrer for the award.

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles, a 2012 N-Peace Philippines’ Role Model for Peace awardee, said earlier this year that “the Philippine government has blazed a trail, ahead of many other countries, for women’s participation in its peace processes,” noting the leadership of Coronel-Ferrer and other women in the peace process.

For her part, Coronel-Ferrer noted that the CAB is “unique not only because it is the first of such agreement to be signed by a woman, not only as one of two chief signatories to a comprehensive agreement, but also because a total of three women — one half of the 6-person negotiating team of the GPH, and about one-fourth of the total number of signatories signed it.”

Advice to negotiators

Asked to give advice to future peace negotiators during the awarding rites, Coronel-Ferrer highlighted the importance of the ability to trust the other party, and to be trustworthy as well. “The success of the negotiation is in building the trust that would enable everyone to change things and move forward from the burden of the past to the shared future for all, men and women,” she said.

She also noted how all the awardees have shown perseverance and courage in their work. “I don’t think I need to give advice to women and men who are very determined in their work and know clearly what they want to achieve.”

“The life skills we learned from our own life experiences, these are the same skills we are using now in our work and in our communities,” she added.

Continuing role for peace

The GPH and MILF peace panels will continue to exist as a mechanism to oversee the implementation of the CAB which provides a road map for the creation of a Bangsamoro region by 2016, anchored on achieving shared security and shared prosperity in the country.

A proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, the legal iteration of the CAB, was filed last month in both houses of Congress‎ that is expected to entrench the proposed Bangsamoro political entity. Coronel-Ferrer continues to lead the government panel not only in the implementation of the agreement but more importantly, in lobbying for people’s support in the establishment of the Bangsamoro.

With Coronel-Ferrer spearheading the government team, women issues are put front and center in the implementation of the agreement. The CAB puts primacy in the role and political participation of women in the future Bangsamoro.

Meanwhile, other leading figures in peace building recognized by the N-Peace Awards included Shah Zaman from Pakistan and Wai Wai Nu from Myanmar for the “Youth Generation” category; Rabiah Jamil Beg from Pakistan for the “Breaking Stereotypes – Women and Media” category; and the organization in Myanmar called Democracy and Peace Women Network for the “Thinking Outside the Box” category.

The winners of the public vote for “Untold Stories – Women Transforming their Communities” category were Hasina Jalal from Afghanistan; Syarifah Aliyyah Shihab from Indonesia; Mi Khin Khin Kyu from Myanmar; Bimala Kadayet from Nepal; and Mona Parkash from Pakistan.

Source: www.opapp.gov.ph

Image Credit: blogs.wsj.com