Building a community of practice for transitional justice
Date:
Author: Maricel Aguilar
Makati City, Philippines — Almost 100 stakeholders participated in a Community of Practice Symposium to Promote a Gender-Sensitive Transitional Justice Agenda organized by UN Women Philippine Project Office last 5-6 December at the New World Hotel in Makati City.
Bangsamoro women leaders, key government agencies with relevant mandates on transitional justice, civil society organizations, academe and international development organizations participated in this two-day symposium to discuss on how can a national and gender-sensitive transitional justice agenda move forward, taking off from the gains from the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission's (TJRC) reports.
The government agencies such as the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) shared current initiatives on transitional justice and how they have integrated gender considerations in such initiatives. Several women - a survivor of the Martial Law in the 1970s, a survivor of the Zamboanga siege in 2013, and a former combatant - shared their experiences of survival and their journey towards peace. The Human Rights Victims Claims Board (HRVCB) and the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation shared their experiences and insights about reparations to women victim-survivors and their families and memorialization of women's courage during the Martial Law era. The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) shared their views and initiatives on guarantee the non-recurrence of violent conflict, specifically in the Bangsamoro, and how their respective institutions are ensuring gender considerations into these initiatives.
The Office of Representative Jose Christopher Belmonte, author of House Bill 5669, or the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation for the Bangsamoro Act, shared the key features of the proposed legislation calling for the creation of a mechanism for transitional justice in the Bangsamoro, consistent with the recommendations of the TJRC. Participants had the opportunity to share their views about the proposed bill considering the current proposed legislation on the creation of the new Bangsamoro political entity, in cognizance with the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.
At the end of the two-day symposium, women leaders handed over the signatures gathered from other women calling for the immediate establishment of a transitional justice mechanism in the Bangsamoro and the participation of women in the said mechanism to Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza and ARMM Regional Commission on Bangsamoro Women (RCBW) Chair Sittie Jehanne Mutin. Secretary Dureza recognized the effort of the women to achieve justice for past atrocities during the Martial Law against the Bangsamoro and the work of UN Women in creating spaces for Bangsamoro women to raise their voices and make themselves heard.