NewsPCID President Amina Rasul Selected for the ASEAN Women for Peace Registry
Cebu City, December 14, 2018 – Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy President Amina Rasul is one of three Philippine resource persons for the ASEAN Women for Peace Registry (AWPR), together with former Peace Adviser Teresita Deles and Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil-Mercado. The registry will be part of the resources of the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation. Members will be comprised of women peace advocates acknowledged for their expertise in peace building, mediation and reconciliation efforts in the member states of Southeast Asia.
Amina Rasul is one of the leading Muslim advocates in the Philippines for peace and development as well as promotion of human rights, justice and democratic practices in Muslim Mindanao. She was a member of the Philippine cabinet under former president Fidel V. Ramos, serving as Presidential Adviser on Youth Affairs and appointed concurrently as the first chair of the National Youth Commission (NYC), which she organized.
The launch of the ASEAN Women Peace Registry is part of the activities for the two-day symposium organized by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process in collaboration with the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR) and the Ateneo de Manila University. The event gathered women experts across Southeast Asia to discuss about key issues in relation to the operationalization of the ‘Joint Statement on Promoting, Women, Peace and Security in ASEAN’ which was adopted during the 31st ASEAN Summit last November 2017.
As violent extremism escalates in the region, experts are increasingly turning their attention to the multi-faceted roles women play in the prevention and response efforts as a countermeasure to the spread of radicalization.
The insights that will come from these women peace practitioners will be highly valuable especially in terms of promotion of gender equality in peacebuilding, enhancement of the capacities of women in conflict resolution processes as well as knowledge sharing of strategies employed by each country to prevent and counter violent extremism.
Photo credit: Ms. Helen Rojas, OPAPP