The thirty-year-old conflict in Mindanao province in the Philippines has never commanded the world’s attention, despite the massive scale of violence and loss of life. Since 1969, when the fighting between Muslim separatists and the armed forces began under the Marcos regime, the Mindanao conflict has left 160,000 dead and displaced some two million people.

For many innocents caught in the maelstrom of war, there is little room for hope. But hope sometimes comes unexpectedly. In 2008 an innovative peacemaking initiative—the Global Peace Festival (GPF)—arrived in the Philippines, inaugurated a year earlier by the Korean-born humanitarian and peace entrepreneur Dr. Hyun Jin Moon. In just two years the festival has gathered more than a million peace-minded people from Paraguay to Mongolia to the United Kingdom to affirm principles of peace and to sponsor service projects that take these principles into the streets and communities. 

Building on the foundation of the Global Peace Festivals in Manila and Mindanao, a coalition of partners launched the Mindanao Peace Initiative at a gathering in the Philippine House of Representatives, a rally at the Araneta Coliseum, and in cities across Mindanao in late February and early March 2009.

The Mindanao Peace coalition includes representatives of Muslim, Christian, and indigenous communities, the Armed Forces, business, academia, and youth organizations.

Plans are underway to leverage the trust and good will secured across conflict lines to bring warring factions to negotiated settlements. “The key to the success of the Global Peace Festival is simple,” says David Caprara, chairman of the GPF-USA, “Peace is not a political objective but a spiritual objective. Everyone is swept up into conflict and war, and everyone is a stakeholder in achieving peace. "

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