Saturday, July 19, 2014

MILF: Alyansa ng Kabataang Mindanao para sa Kapayapaan hold s 8th Mindanao Youth Peace Camp

Posted to the MILF Website (Jul 19): Alyansa ng Kabataang Mindanao para sa Kapayapaan hold s 8th Mindanao Youth Peace Camp

The Alyansa ng Kabataang Mindanao para sa Kapayapaan (AKMK) made another major achievement on June 20-23, 2014 when it conducted the 8th Mindanao Youth Peace Camp at LGU Beach Resort, Barangay Lower Bayao, Tukuran, Zamboanga Del Sur.
  
The 8th MYPC was participated by about two hundred fifty (250) tri-people youth delegates representing thirty-three (33) organizations from the seven (7) clusters of different communities in Mindanao.

The theme, “Advancing an Inclusive and Peaceful Mindanao: Our Generation’s Responsibility,” aims to firmly establish integration among the Tri-people youth towards building a comprehensive and inclusive peace in Mindanao and to inculcate awareness on their significant role in peacebuilding. It was a great triumph for us and especially to the Tri-people youth to be critical elements in this undertaking through taking part on issues which not only affect the sector but the entire humanity at large. It served as a platform to gather altogether the energies of the youths, to expose their sentiments, and to witness them commit once more to this difficult task.

The peace advocacy has never been an easy task. From the time since the 7th camp was organized by the alliance, there had been a sequence of events which had affected the alliance as well as the continuation of its peace initiatives. Philippines, mainly Mindanao, gained another milestone through the Government of the Philippines-Moro Islamic Liberation Front (GPH-MILF) peace process. The government and the MILF were said to have accomplished so much – having signed the four Annexes – and together with the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) paved the way for the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). No matter how skyrocketing this development has been a large part of Mindanaoans were neglected particularly the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) whose agenda are not included in the talks. This puts inclusive peace in question.

Furthermore, Mindanao suffers because of tremendous floods, high profile kidnappings, spate bombings; and just recently Worthy to include in this web of unfolding events is the fact that the peoples of Mindanao, on a daily basis, continue to suffer from poverty. The occurrence of poverty in Mindanao is higher than in any other region in the Philippines.

But despite all these situations, the tri-people youths, together with other peace workers and movements, and peoples had not given up but instead had carried out their conviction for the pursuit of just peace. They widened their perspectives about the things that confront them and the society at large. And that very commendable conviction is worth more than celebrating!

The over-all design of the 8th MYPC was basically a mixture of lectures, thematic workshops, multimedia, and teambuilding games. All throughout the duration of the activity, lectures and thematic workshops revolved around issues on Sustainable Economic Alternatives, Labor Migration and the Youth, Globalization of Education, Gender and Cultures (Men, Women, LGBT), and The Future of Our Food and Agricultural System: Challenges to the Youth. Finding long-lasting solutions to the centuries-old problems of Mindanao is incomplete and would never be possible without discussing and confronting them. 

This victory is, of course, not only shared by the youth sector alone. We want to consider this as our humble contribution to all the peacebuilding efforts of the groups and individuals worldwide. May we continue to work hand in hand to empower the peoples, especially the marginalized masses.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/1094-alyansa-ng-kabataang-mindanao-para-sa-kapayapaan-hold-s-8th-mindanao-youth-peace-camp

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