A CIVIL Society organization has called on both government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to create a new entity to oversee civilian protection in conflict-affected areas.

This proposal came as the peace negotiating panels of the two parties signed the Agreement on the Protection of Civilians last Tuesday.

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Under the agreement, the mandate of the International Monitoring Team
(IMT) is expanded to include monitoring and verifying compliance by the parties of civilian protection obligations. This is on top of its ceasefire oversight function.

In a statement, the Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC) said it "is highly dismayed" that civilian protection was treated only as an adjunct concern of the ceasefire.

"Considering the seriousness and gravity of the attacks and abuses committed against civilian communities, we feel that the task of Civilian Protection must be given an appropriate, effective, vigilant and influential mechanism that can break the impunity of human rights violations and war crimes committed in the context of the armed conflict," the MPC stressed.

Rick Flores, an MPC official, explained that because civilian protection is a "gargantuan mission," its new mandate will be "too much of a burden" for the IMT to fulfill.

Flores said the IMT must first be allowed to fulfill its primary mandate before adding a new mandate.

"Civilian protection is a matter of survival for the internally displaced persons in Mindanao," the MPC noted.

It said that there are serious threats to security such as indiscriminate bombings, attacks in the evacuation centers, burning of civilian homes, illegal arrests and sexual violence "which need a whole set of protection mechanism and cannot be simply relegated to the functions of the IMT."

As an alternative, the MPC is proposing the establishment of the Joint
Civilian Protection Authority (JCPA) that shall be composed of representatives from government, MILF, civil society, conflict-affected communities, and the international community.

It also said that women must lead the JCPA.

The MPC said appending civilian protection with the ceasefire monitoring will drown women participation as this mechanism is largely dominated by men.

Flores said this proposed leadership atmosphere of the JCPA can be attained by allowing 70 percent of its work force to be composed of women.

The MPC stressed, "it takes the support and participation of the women population to spell success in the peacemaking work."

The agreement is largely a reaffirmation of the obligations of conflict parties under the humanitarian and human rights laws, which are "to take constant care to protect the civilian population and civilian properties against the dangers arising in armed conflict situations."

The major commitments of the parties include refraining attacks on non-combatants, and facilitating the flow of relief supplies in affected communities.

Under the agreement, the parties are expected to "issue or re-issue orders to their respective military units or security forces to conduct their operations consistent with their obligations and commitment" as outlined in it.

The agreement came even as both the government and MILF panels had yet to renew the IMT's annual mandate that expired November last year.