THE PRINCIPLES for Peace (P4P) Southeast Asia was launched at Waterfront Insular Hotel on July 11, following an extensive two-year global consultation process to boost peace-building practices in the region.
Anchored on the theme “Reimagining and Re-energizing Support for the Bangsamoro Peace Process”, the launch investigated how P4P might be used to revive the substantial support accompanying the Bangsamoro Peace Process.
Gus Miclat, executive director of the Mindanao-based Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), explains how this P4P promotes the implementation of new principles, standards, and metrics that seek to fundamentally reshape peace and conflict prevention efforts and outline a course for long-term peace.
“As peace advocates, we will take a look at these principles– the principles of subsidiarity, humility, accountability, and integrating different processes. While we already knew these from the past, it hasn’t been integrated yet as a framework. Meron tayong parang mechanism at diagnostic tool to measure kung ano ang ating ginagawa (We do have a mechanism or a diagnostic tool to measure what we do),” Miclat said.
The eight core Principles for Peace are dignity, solidarity, humility as the value foundation, enhancing integrated and hybrid solutions, adopting subsidiarity, promoting pluralism as the guiding framework for action, and enhancing legitimacy as accountable security. These aim to foster inclusive and flexible discussions to outline a new path towards sustainable, legitimate and lasting peace.
“We hope that this is absorbed, used as a framework, or a lens all over Mindanao. Not only in Mindanao but in other peace processes as well,” Miclat added.
As it was a global participatory initiative, around 200 participants from academe, faith-based organizations, civil society, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), representatives from the Philippine government, embassies and advocates from Southeast Asia and Europe gathered around to formally launch the P4P.
