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Today, 21 September 2023, the Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) joins the Philippines’ commemoration of the 52nd anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law. On this same day, we also observe the International Day of Peace, declared by the United Nations General Assembly as a day of non-violence and ceasefire in pursuit of a world without violence, displacement, and widespread human rights abuses.
In support of the International Day of Peace’s 2024 theme, “Cultivating a Culture of Peace,” IID recognizes the importance of individual, institutional, and collective action in fostering peace. Part of these actions include raising awareness of threats against peace in issues that extend beyond armed conflict.
This year’s theme also commemorates the 25th anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s adoption of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace. It invites reflection on how we can cultivate the principles necessary for global harmony-principles that require more than the absence of conflict but demand an active, participatory process of mutual understanding and cooperation.
IID, along with its allies and partners in the peacebuilding community in the region of Southeast Asia, believes cultivating a culture of peace requires a genuine examination of the very roots of conflicts happening around the world. Social injustices must be addressed and the voices of conflict-affected communities must be put front and center of all dialogue initiatives and conflict mediation.
Cultivating a culture of peace in this sense must begin with surfacing the stories of peoples aimed towards achieving ‘collective healing’ and restoration of democracy, peace, and social justice.
In the Philippines, however, September 21 continues to haunt and plague our collective memory as a nation as we are reminded of the darkest period in our history when Martial Law was declared by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos more than five decades ago. We are one with the people in honoring the martyrs of Martial Law and today recommit ourselves to defend the gains of their struggle against the unlamented dictatorship.
We express grave concern over the gaps on the execution of the current peace strategies, which remain unstable and still seemingly shifting to the militarization of educational spaces, revision of Philippine history, and the suppression of freethinking, while failing to address the issues of poverty, economic dislocation, disinclusion and marginalization.
We maintain our resolve that giving primacy to a peace process through a negotiated political dialogue is a necessary step in finding resolution to armed conflicts happening around us. This approach enriches the meaning and basis of an International Day of Peace.
Our struggle against Martial Law and the triumphs we achieved will all become meaningless if we, at the moment, allow a culture of impunity to persist and the violation of human rights to remain unabated.
Peacebuilding is a process of resolving and negotiating differences, requiring policies that transcend better narratives and are rooted in realities on the ground. Investments and economic development must be felt by marginalized sectors and vulnerable groups, as promised by the whole-of-nation approach to peace and development.
As we observe the International Day of Peace 2024 and the 52nd anniversary of Martial Law, IID emphasizes the critical importance of the people’s right to peace and sincere and inclusive collaborations across all sectors of society in the pursuit of truly building a culture of peace. ###
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