Civilian Protection Monitoring in Mindanao: The Power of Information

Zainudin MalangExecutive Director

Mindanao Human Rights Action Center, Inc. (MinHRAC)mail@minhrac.org

Civil-Military Interaction Seminar 2011November 7-10, 2011

Sydney, Australia

The Information Gap in Mindanao’s Conflict Affected Region

“We are the ones living in a conflict affected village. We are the ones with the deepest understanding of the conflict. We are the ones who suffer the most from the conflict. And yet, we are the ones who are least heard and are given the least role in our own affairs.”

Information Gap Indicators

• Some of the assumptions resulting from the information gap:– “Our system to monitor the delivery of

humanitarian assistance is working fine.”– “It is good that there is no longer an

insurgency in Mindanao. We should introduce more development initiatives.”

• Even as:– 56% of IDPs reported diversion of aid– For the past twelve years, there were

instances when the ceasefire collapsed that produced 1 Million (year 2000), 430 Thousand (year 2003), and 715 Thousand (year 2008) IDPs.

The Challenges of Monitoring the Conflict in Mindanao

• The challenge of repeated cycles of displacement•The challenge of disjointed geography and society

• Displacements occur in difficult to access rural villages in the mountains, marshes , islands• 12 ethno-linguistic groups, with a total population of 11 Million

•First deployed in 2004, the International Monitoring Team only has 43 monitoring personnel

The Challenges of Monitoring the Conflict in Mindanao

•The challenge of politicization of information relating to conflict and aid• The challenge of bridging the divide between conflict affected communities and the ceasefire body/aid agencies

• a product of both a physical communications divide and a lack of trust; the disconnect between outside actors and conflict affected communities.

The Physical, Social, and Political Environment for Monitoring

• 3,831 villages spread out mostly in 14 Provinces in the Western, Northern, Southern, and Central parts of Mindanao

• Incidence of violence between state and non-state forces mostly in rural areas, inaccessible to most agencies

• Physical and communications disconnect between conflict affected villages and humanitarian, ceasefire, and human rights actors

Grassroots Based Monitoring to Fill-In the Information Gap

•Organize and train civilians in conflict affected villages as community-based monitors; locals monitor locally•Establish a reporting system that will collate information provided by the monitors and relay this to relevant institutions International Monitoring Team and Joint Ceasefire Committees Government and MILF Peace Negotiating Panels National and international human rights bodies and humanitarian agencies•By doing so:

• serve as a communication bridge between grassroots stakeholders and other actors• allow the international monitoring team, ceasefire body, and aid agencies to triangulate their information

MinHRAC’s Community Based Monitoring Program

•1,253 monitors•16 Field Teams in 14 Provinces

MinHRAC HQ

•National Agencies – Comm. On Human Rights, Dept. of Social Welfare, Dept of Health•Int’l Institutions - Int’l Monitoring Team, Joint Ceasefire Committees, UNHCR, ICRC, UNFPA, WFP, UNICEF

INFORMATION FLOWON CIVILIAN PROTECTION

CONCERNS

Mode of Alert Transmittal by Grassroots Monitors

Alert: Fighting in Brgy. A, Mun. of B, between government and rebels forces, from 9am to 12nn today, Dec. 7. 2 civilians injured in crossfire namely: X and Y. Other civilians sought shelter in nearby school.

Grassroots Monitors

Monitoring Coordinators

MinHRAC Monitoring Hotline

SMS SMS

Alert: Armed men led by Captain or Commander so-and-so entered Brgy. A, Mun. of B, at 3pm today, Dec. 7, and burned/straffed houses of civilians. 25 homes destroyed. Civilians ran towards poblacion and need shelter.

Sample SMS 1 Sample SMS 2

Sample Reporting of an Incident

• 8pm, July 8, 2010, MinHRAC hotline receives the following SMS“They are exchanging mortar shell here in Brgy. X. Some of the shells are falling near our shelters.• By 8:05pm, validation of the incident via phone call was conducted• By 8:10, the alert was conveyed via phone call to the International Monitoring Team which then convenes via phone the Joint Ceasefire Committees• By 9pm, a phone call to the monitor which relayed the initial alert confirmed that the shelling has stopped. Previous shelling incidents in the same area would last the whole night.

INCIDENT BACKGROUND:

Barangay X is a village in the Municipality of Midsayap, Province of North Cotabato. From 2008-2009, it was host to a huge number of IDPs arising from the collapse of the ceasefire. At the time of the incident, the ceasefire had been reinstated. But occasional fighting still breaks out.