Across Asia and the Pacific violent conflict and extremism continue to pose serious challenges to sustainable development and security. Since 1992, 26 subnational conflicts have affected at least half the countries in the region. In the Philippines, long-lasting armed conflict in Mindanao and other parts of the country have negatively affected families and communities for decades.
Ending protracted armed conflicts often requires long-term social and structural change at all levels. Today, the Asia-Pacific region is home to over 700 million youth, or 60% of the world’s young people between the ages of 15 and 24. This unprecedented demographic offers enormous opportunities for the region to harness new ideas and innovations, new ways of building peace.
Across the region, young people are already working with conflict-affected communities to end violence and transform conflict relationships. It is crucial to work with and promote the voices and actions of young people to ensure that peacebuilding processes are inclusive and transformative, especially at grassroots levels.
The Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation on Youth, Peace & Security, to be held in Bangkok, Thailand from 16-19 May 2017, will consult young people from the region on peace and security issues, in order to provide a regional perspective for the successful implementation of UNSCR 2250(2015), to gather inputs for the Progress Study mandated by the Resolution (including the gathering of evidence on innovative peacebuilding in the region), and to create an action plan for the continuation, and promotion, of peacebuilding and social cohesion efforts in the Asia-Pacific Region. Philippine participants to the consultation include:
Mia Franczesca Diesta Estipona graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies, majoring in international politics with a minor in peace studies from Miriam College, Philippines. She is currently the advocacy and networking officer of Generation Peace Youth Network (GenPeace), which focuses on peacebuilding in the Philippines and human rights advocacy. “On behalf of the network that I am representing, we want to share the collective effort and experiences of Generation Peace to ensure the participation and rightful representation of youth in peacebuilding,” said Mia.
Mark Vincent Lim is a graduating development studies student at the University of the Philippines Manila. From 2015-2016, he served as the chairperson of the UP Manila College of Arts and Sciences student council. Currently, he is the national spokesperson of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) and the national convener of the Rise for Education Alliance in the Philippines.
“I am looking forward to share to the regional consultation the state of the armed conflict that has been ongoing in the Philippines for almost five decades and the consequences it has caused especially to the youth. I would also like to share the updates on the ongoing formal peace negotiations between the Philippine Government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) that seeks to address the roots of the armed conflict.”
Mohd Nizam Apna Aggah is a member of Zamboanga community-based Child Protection Network. He started his journey on promoting child rights and participation in 2015 when he and his family survived the Zamboanga siege. He uses his skill in theater arts to advocate proper hygiene, cleanliness, peace, harmony and unity, and preparedness to various calamities, and HIV/AIDS. He is now back in school as a student leader and still active on being peer facilitator promoting adolescent life skills using UNICEF module called Usap Tayo (Let’s Talk): Creating Connections Module.
