‘Autonomy a win-win solution for conflicts’

MANILA, Philippines – Autonomy has proven to be a win-win solution for countries trying to address long-drawn conflict situations, European diplomats said during a Media and Peace Program Roundtable forum organized by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) last week.

But Thomas Phipps of the British embassy in Manila said that there is a unique approach to every conflict, while Kimmu Kiljunen, special representative for peace mediation of the foreign minister of Finland, said that the key to the resolution of any conflict is trust.

Phipps discussed the Irish-British conflict from 1916 to 1922, wherein Northern Ireland demanded separation from the UK.

Eventually, Phipps said the parties in conflict agreed to a peaceful resolution which resulted in the UK Parliament granting Northern Ireland the right to self-rule as a devolved government that remained a subordinate of the national sovereignty.

Phipps said that the key to the resolution of the conflict was that “the national government gave the people a say on the issue.”

“This commitment was the contributing factor that helped secure peace in Northern Ireland,” Phipps said. “That meant staying with the UK and receiving the economic and political support they needed while being able to autonomously determine their path to progress.”

For his part, Kiljunen said: “Granting autonomy to the constituents of the Åland Islands had proven effective in settling a massive political and military crisis in Finland in 1921.”

“The same impact is what the Philippine government is trying to create with the creation of the Bangsamoro in Mindanao,” he added.

The Åland Islands is an archipelagic region in the Baltic Sea that hosts a population of mostly Swedish descent. It was part of the Kingdom of Sweden until Russia claimed the territory under the Treaty of Fredrikshamn in 1809.

In 1917, Finland declared sovereignty of Åland, whereas the Åland islanders sought reintegration with Sweden.

With Finland’s initial rejection of the Åland Islands proposal, political and military tensions arose until in 1921, the Finnish Parliament offered extensive autonomy to the Åland Islands, assuring the latter that their Swedish heritage, language and culture and traditions would be respected.

Kiljunen said that 97 percent of the Åland Islands population wanted to separate from Finland back in 1918, yet today there is unanimous acceptance and support for their current setup as an autonomous region.

Phipps said the Åland Islands and Northern Ireland experiences share many parallels with the prospective Bangsamoro entity.

Kiljunen, however, made clear that historical contexts and issues in conflict always vary from one situation to the other, so peaceful resolutions successful in certain places and conditions cannot be replicated directly, but rather adapted to suit the particular concerns and interests of the local situation.

He affirmed that a key to the resolution of any conflict is trust.

“Secessionist sentiments are always rooted in mistrust. By making sure that there is real autonomy in the Bangsamoro (through the provisions in the finalized Bangsamoro Basic Law), the Philippine government will be able to build real trust that will curb any feared intentions of secession,” Kiljunen said.

Phipps said peace in Mindanao can help the Philippines realize its potential to become the world’s 16th largest economy by 2050.

“If the Philippines can successfully achieve peace through the creation of the Bangsamoro, it can become a positive regional and global example to help put an end to various other conflicts in the world,” he said.