Briefs
Alert’s Policy Briefs and Thematic Papers provide researchers and policymakers with practical solutions to conflict-related issues. These papers and briefs feature data-driven insights on how conflict develops and how it can be mitigated and resolved.
On one hand, the thematic papers focus on key thematic areas such as the pandemic, the Anti-Terrorism Law, conflict strings, and other factors to give dimension to the conflict data. On the other hand, policy briefs introduce data-driven proposals to aid in policy-making and discourse.
Dansalan Quarterly Abstracts
10 July 2022 Conflict Alert
This brief is a collection of abstracts of all the published issues of Dansalan Quarterly. The Dansalan Quarterly is a publishing venture established in 1975 for the Dansalan Research Center, which hopes to enlighten readers about the rich history and culture of Muslim Mindanao, as well as inform about the decades-old struggles of Moros in their quest for peace. It combines historical, sociological, ethnographic, anthropological, historiographical, and political accounts from prominent authors. Both Filipino and American authors contributed in making this journal a reality and eventually a success. Dansalan Quarterly is essentially a rich feast of scholarly work about the life of the Moros.
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Policy Brief on the Proposed Indigenous Peoples' Code
03 November 2021 Conflict Alert
To aid in the legislation of the Indigenous Peoples’ (IP) Code in the Bangsamoro, this policy brief provides analysis and recommendations on the Cabinet Bill No. 40 that was filed by former Members of the Parliament Romeo Saliga and Melanio Ulama in July 2021 that will strengthen land management and peaceful conflict resolutions and processes in the Bangsamoro including provisions on scope and coverage, ancestral domain claims, camp transformation sites, the indigenous concept of ownership and ancestral lands, free prior and informed consent, management of natural resources, the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs (MIPA), the Mutual Support Fund, and rights of women. Some of the major recommendations include citing Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples (NMIPs) and the acknowledgement of their Ancestral Domain Claims to ensure that MIPA is mandated to recognize the existing claims of NMIPs.
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Conflict Monitoring – Stakeholder Engagement Plan
22 September 2021 Conflict Alert
This document is the Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) which forms part of the environmental and social standard (ESS) requirement of the World Bank for the implementation of International Alert Philippines Conflict Monitoring – Philippines Project.
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Conflict Monitoring – Environmental and Social Commitment Plan
22 September 2021 Conflict Alert
Conflict monitoring (Conflict Alert) is one of the core programming priorities of International Alert Philippines. The programme has contributed to the promotion of inclusive governance and evidence-based programming and policy-making in Mindanao, the Bangsamoro, and parts of Luzon in the last decade. The World Bank funded project aims to provide useful, timely, and reliable conflict data and analysis that enables key stakeholders to develop relevant policy responses, strategies, advocacies, and actions.
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COVID and conflict dynamics in the Bangsamoro
21 May 2021 Conflict Alert
At the onset of the COVID-19 crisis in early 2020, the government implemented a series of lockdowns with varying rules and coverage in the Bangsamoro. Although these lockdowns have generally had the same conflict-mitigating effect as the martial law in Mindanao from May 2017 to December 2019, data showed that it has also caused a rise in tension between enforcers and citizens. Aside from brewing tension outside of the home, domestic gender-based violence and child abuse have risen. This makes the case for making the government’s COVID-19 response sensitive to the vulnerabilities of women and children, providing avenues for reporting, designating emergency shelters, and guaranteeing quick action on complaints.
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Porous Peace in Mindanao’s Free Trade Area
26 April 2021 Conflict Alert
This policy brief aims to stimulate discussions around cross-border trade and curb the tendencies of violence in this form of economic activity. The principal recommendation is for the Bangsamoro Transition Authority and the Bangsamoro government to design nuanced and conflict-sensitive mechanisms to move small traders into the formal economy and develop the area as a de facto free trade zone, among others.
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Land Governance in the Bangsamoro
26 April 2021 Conflict Alert
This policy brief identifies the legal and administrative remedies that should be undertaken to fill the land gaps in the current peace pact between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The proposal offers a feasible course of action to prevent or resolve land-related conflicts between and among families and clans by establishing a Bangsamoro Land Commission that will design a pluralistic institutional framework for land governance.
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Mindanao’s Shadow Economies
26 April 2021 Conflict Alert
This policy brief argues that the informal economy in Mindanao, one among many hidden drivers of continued violence and instability in the region, needs to be seen as integral to all peacebuilding efforts. This brief proposes that stakeholders in the peace process should mitigate the conflict risks posed by the informal economy and, at the same time, harness it as a source of revenue and development that can bring peace to Mindanao.
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Illicit Drugs and Peace
26 April 2021 Conflict Alert
This policy brief argues that the illicit drug economy should be regarded as a strategic concern in the peace process between the government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Priorities for action include using drug enforcement as a confidence-building measure, insulating the proposed Bangsamoro police from corruption, providing alternative economic opportunities for poor communities, challenging the sense of impunity among drug criminals, preventing money laundering, and cutting the links between criminals and politicians.
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Getting Rid of Illegal Guns
26 April 2021 Conflict Alert
This policy brief proposes a three-pronged strategy to combat illegal firearms in the Bangsamoro. The principal proposal is the decommissioning of weapons in the hands of ex-combatants and other rebel groups, disrupting the activities and capturing the weapons of private armies and other criminal groups, and reforming the institutional framework that guides the control and management of firearms in Philippine society.
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Why the proposed Anti-Terrorism Law will lead to wrongful arrests and more violence
01 July 2020 Conflict Alert
The proposed Anti-Terrorism Law views the problem of terrorism purely through a security lens. The law can lead to wrongful arrests and more violence if mechanisms are not in place to protect rights of citizens, particularly of minorities.
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Disrupting conflict strings in sub-national contexts: Experience from Muslim Mindanao, Philippines
17 September 2016 Conflict Alert
Conflict strings are episodes of violence arising from a discrete incident with a singular or multiple causes. This paper argues that violent incidents cannot be examined as discrete events isolated from other causes and related events, which enable conflict to change shape and endure.
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Applying a violence intensity index in the Bangsamoro
16 September 2016 Conflict Alert
This thematic paper introduces a Violence Intensity Index and its application in the five provinces of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The overarching objective is to establish an evaluative tool that can be used to improve the targeting mechanisms of government agencies and nongovernmental organizations, directly or indirectly, involved in development and conflict management in Muslim Mindanao.
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