The armed conflict over self-determination between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Muslim majority region of Mindanao lasted more than 50 years. Women were already driving forces in the peace process. Since the 2014 peace agreement, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao has been in the process of building political structures. This is a key moment for women to anchor their demands for a gender-equal society within the new political and social structures.
The 2014 peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front ended more than 50 years of armed struggle for self-determination in the Muslim-majority region of Mindanao. It was one of the oldest armed struggles for independence in the world and claimed more than 100,000 lives. One trigger of the conflict was the mass migration of Christian settlers to the ancestral lands of Muslim and non-Muslim indigenous people in the first decade of the 20th century. However, the conflict scenario in Mindanao is multi-causal and multi-dimensional. In addition to the armed struggle for self-determination, there are other forms of violent conflict in Mindanao: the communists’ fight against the Philippine government, feuds between families and clans (“rido”), the indigenous communities’ fight for the rights to their ancestral land, and ideologically motivated gang crime. Our programme work focuses on the armed conflict in connection with self-determination in Muslim Mindanao.
The peace negotiations lasted 17 years. PeaceWoman Miriam Coronel-Ferrer was the chief negotiator and the first woman in the world to co-sign a major peace agreement. It took another five years for a law establishing the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao to be passed in March 2019. Since then, the transitional government has faced the challenge of simultaneously achieving political and fiscal autonomy for the region and building peaceful communities after the long conflict.
Thanks to pressure from women activists, in addition to PeaceWoman Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, two other women took part in the negotiations. Together they ensured that women – including those under 30 – were represented in the government negotiating panel und the negotiating panel for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Women's organisations and networks actively supported the negotiations and, after the agreement was concluded, lobbied both houses of Congress for legislation that would most consistently implement the provisions of the peace agreement.
Women peace negotiators advocated for women's rights to meaningful political participation in the transitional government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao. Thanks to the activists' persistence, the government decreed that each office must allocate 5% of its budget to the advancement of women. In addition, the Bangsamoro Women's Commission, which is responsible for gender-equality measures, was established in 2020.
The ongoing phase of establishing the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao has been in progress since 2014. It is a crucial moment for Muslim, indigenous and Christian women to define their demands for a gender-equitable society and anchor them in the new government structures.
We have been working with the Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute (GZOPI) since 2003 and the launch of the “1000 Women for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize” initiative. GZOPI began organising local Women's Peace Tables in Mindanao in 2015. Parliamentarians and experts in transitional justice also took part, but the main participants were women from the conflict-affected region.
Women affected by the conflict and involved in civil society organisations working for peace, human rights and development took part in the meetings, which often lasted several days. The participants discussed the violence they had experienced during the conflict, attended workshops on how to use the transitional justice mechanisms for conflict transformation as set out in the peace agreement, and developed advocacy strategies. Key figures from the government and administration as well as the media were invited to ensure that the women's concerns reached decision-makers. Some of the meetings also included public forums and awareness-raising events.
We are working with GZOPI to ensure that women play an active role in conflict transformation and peacebuilding through local and national meetings, congresses and advocacy activities, thus helping to shape a gender-equal and sustainable peace.
Since 2025, the programme has been working with GZOPI to strengthen intergenerational cooperation between women and women's organisations to maintain peace. Targeted lobbying with decision-makers aims to achieve an inclusive implementation of the Bangsamoro Peace Agreement that reflects the needs and experiences of women from different generations.
An important component of the programme is the exchange of knowledge between the partners in the Philippines, Colombia and Nepal. This began in 2019 with an initial face-to-face meeting and culminated in 2021 with the joint development of the publication “From transition to transformation: strengthening women's effective participation in peacebuilding and transitional justice processes”. We will continue this exchange of knowledge in our programme work with GZOPI as well as in the Feminists Connecting for Peace network.
In the Philippines, our programme strengthens the participation of women in transitional justice in the autonomous region of Bangsamoro in Muslim Mindanao. Karen Tañada, director of our partner organisation GZO Peace Institute in the Philippines, explains how.
More videos from the Philippines, Colombia and Nepal on our YouTube channel.
In 2019, we brought peace activists from Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines together to share their experiences of armed conflict and of the subsequent peace efforts and to benefit from each other's expertise.
Two representatives of the Gender Working Group of the Colombian Truth Commission exchanged their experiences with peace activists from the Philippines. Many moments of recognition and understanding emerged at during these exchanges. Interview with our programme managers Andrea Filippi and Karin Widmer.
Making peace processes more gender-sensitive
Three women from our partner organisations in Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines found many commonalities in what it takes to sustain peace. At a public panel in Bern, the women talked about the importance of feminist principles in peacebuilding, particularly to prevent backsliding into armed violence, of safe spaces and self-care for activists and of not losing sight of the goal – sustainable peace.
What are peace processes – and how do women influence these processes? With a graphic illustration, we show the various roles of women in the different stages of peace processes. We use this tool to highlight the role women play and the influence they have in peace processes.