21 July 2004 – Secretary of Foreign Affairs Delia Domingo-Albert announced that the three-day conference workshop on “The Role of Muslim Women in Peace Building and Development” will be held on 28-30 July 2004 at the Marawi Resort Hotel in Marawi City.

“I am happy to announce that with the cooperation between the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the funding agency USAID, this conference workshop on “The Role of Muslim Women in Peace Building and Development” will finally push through,” Secretary Albert said.  The conference workshop, to be attended by more than 500 representatives from the public and private sectors, is a Philippine initiative funded by USAID’s “Growth with Equity in Mindanao” (GEM) program, which aims to enhance the capacity of business support organizations and small-scale community infrastructure in Mindanao.

As part of Secretary Albert’s drive to strengthen the Public Diplomacy thrust of the DFA, she expressed her desire that the Department become increasingly involved in issues that go beyond the usual geo-political and economic concerns of the Foreign Service.  “As a Filipina and a diplomat, I feel very strongly about this conference and that is why I involved the DFA in this endeavor and enjoined the female officers and staff of the Department to take part in the conference to increase their awareness on issues confronting Muslim women in the Philippines,” the Secretary added.

The conference aims to enjoin women participants to actively participate in peace building and development in their respective areas of Muslim Mindanao, as well as establish linkages of organized Muslim women to partner government agencies, NGOs, religious leaders, sectoral organizations and the academe.  “One of the conference’s expected outputs is a draft strategic plan for Muslim women’s role in promoting peace building and development and I am confident the participants will come up with something relevant to enhancing the unique role of Muslim women in Philippine society,” Secretary Albert said.

“Women in the Philippines have always played a pivotal role in our nation’s history but I believe that much remains to be done to fully empower the women and make them participate fully in nation building.  I am honored to have been able to be an exponent of this cause as Secretary of Foreign Affairs,” Albert said.  Among the institutions helping out in this workshop are the Mindanao Women’s League, the Philippine Women’s University Alumni Association (Marawi City and Lanao del Sur Chapters) and the Mindanao State University Center for Women’s Studies.

Secretary Albert said that the Marawi conference is part of a continuing effort by the DFA and government to empower women and increase awareness on issues that confront them.  The Secretary was in Mindanao early this year for the Annual Conference of the Mindanao Commission on Women held in Davao City.  Last March, she joined other women Ministers of Foreign Affairs in delivering a strong statement denouncing violence against women during the 60th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.  She also introduced two Philippine resolutions regarding violence against women migrant workers and traffic in women and girls.  The Secretary also recently signed, along with other Foreign Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the ASEAN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women at the sidelines of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting held recently in Jakarta, Indonesia (DFA press release SFA-DDA-422-04).  END.