July 31, 2009
There is no other path to peace but dialogue. We welcome the move of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Peace Panels (MILF) to reconvene and reach consensus points on the mechanism on the protection of non combatants in armed conflict, as well as sustain the government’s Suspension of Military Operations (SOMO) and the Suspension of Military Action (SOMA) of the MILF. While it is long overdue, we believe that opening and sustaining the space for dialogue and consensus building will lead to the peaceful resolution of the age old conflict in Mindanao.
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June 28, 2009
THE protection of internally displaced persons is basically about promoting respect of the rights of a group of civilians, mostly women and children who have lost their homes, been separated from their families and placed in a very vulnerable situation. Ten months since the snag in the formal signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain and ten months, since the government launched its pursuit against rogue MILF commanders for their alleged attacks on civilians in North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Saranggani, the number of IDPs have reached more than 600,000. According to the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) April 2009 report, Mindanao’s IDPs was “the biggest new displacement in the world” out of 4.2 million newly displaced in 2008. It is higher than the “massive new displacements” in Sudan (550,000), Kenya (500,000), Democratic Republic of Congo (at least 400,000), Iraq (360,000), Pakistan (over 310,000), Somalia (300,000), Colombia (270,000 to June 2008), Sri Lanka (230,000) and India (over 220,000)
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