Moro millennials doing their best to achieve peace

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 18): Moro millennials doing their best to achieve peace

Bangsamoro leader Datu Beds Kali, a member of the so-called millennial generation, is doing his best to educate his fellow youths in the value of a just and honorable peace.

His selflessness in this initiative dismissed claims that his generation are only concerned for "instant gratification" and themselves.

Kali has lived all of his nineteen years in Cotabato City, a place that’s often the setting for a socio-political landscape marred by blood, conflict, and social and economic injustices.

However, together with other Bangsamoro millenials, the former has dedicated his life to re-setting the course of this narrative into one rooted on a culture of peace, justice and nourishment of diversity.

“I have lived in an area in Mindanao that is among the most affected by war and conflict. We have witnessed firsthand violence and the unfairness of the world, in this corner alone. When there is conflict, we see our lives being flashed on the television screen, as if people here didn’t get hurt or didn’t personally get affected by those conflicts, those catastrophes,” he said.

“They call us ‘the future of tomorrow’, but how can that be, if we are prevented from attending school because there are no more classrooms? And the few ones left are re-purposed as evacuation centers? Our mothers worry day and night, praying for the safety of their husbands and children. It is sad, but ‘round here, prayers don’t always get answered," Kali added.

The horrors of armed-conflict and the additional layer of injustice brought about by misrepresentation and inaccurate reports in the media made Kali and other Moro youth leaders realize that the ill effects of today’s armed conflicts will continue to reverberate until the next Bangsamoro generation.

“I have witnessed how my people have struggled for peace. Amidst cries, shouts, and pleads to give peace a chance, I have seen my people struggle. We are all victims of violence and negative stereotypes; and these things will continue if we do not rectify prevailing social and historical injustices,” he added.

A recent Youth Development Index (YDI) report by the National Youth Commission (NYC) noted that youth participation in the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is relatively low compared to other regions.

This dismal data prevails, despite the fact that the youth comprise 25 percent or 6.8 million of the total population of Mindanao.

Results of the said study show that the ARMM scored 0.14 overall; the poorest among all regions and is indicative of major obstacles to youth development in the area. A breakdown of that score shows that the region received poor grades, throughout: an alarming 0.185 in education; 0.039 in employment; 0.162 in health; and 0.14 in participation.

Moreover, in the 2013 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), it was found that the ARMM has the highest number of out-of-school children and youth among all regions in the country, pegged at 14.4 percent.

The said survey also showed that the Muslim Mindanao region had the lowest functional literacy rate of 72.1 percent, the primary reasons being, “26 percent of those who dropped out left their classrooms to look for jobs; 17.7 percent to marry, and 16.5 percent lost interest in pursuing their basic education.”

Meanwhile, a 2016 report by the United Nations Security Council indicated that “sporadic low-intensity clashes continue to affect children, predominantly in Mindanao, despite limited large-scale armed engagements in the past year.”

The report also mentioned that children are “significantly affected by violent extremism in the past years” and that “they are often targeted by different terror acts to cause more casualties and fear among the communities”.

The report was released pursuant to Security Council resolution 2225 (2015), highlighting recent global trends regarding the impact of armed conflict on children as well as grave violations committed against children in 2015.

Kali is currently taking up an undergraduate degree in Development Communication at the University of Southern Mindanao (USM).

He has served as a regional representative for the National Youth for Sin Tax; the USM chapter president of civil society organization MYPEACE, Inc. and founder of upstart organization Freethinkers Philippines.

For Kali, the youth plays a vital role in peace-building especially in educating the people on Moro history as well as on the culture and origin of the Bangsamoro armed struggle.

“Millennials can do many things to contribute to peace-building. We have the time, ideas and skills to strategize and put into motion concepts that will eventually strengthen our advocacy for peace. Our wide array of specializations can also be instrumental in making peace happen,” he added.

Currently, Kali has been organizing interfaith dialogues and joining peace conventions to know more about the ways the youth can contribute in advocating for peace.

“With the skills and ideas we have, we can easily initiate and ignite things up which will strengthen our peace advocacy," he added.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=932163