19 July 2016 — Philippine Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna Maria Zeneida Angara Collinson served as a panelist during the session on New Approaches and Tools in Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education in the recently-concluded First Women Higher Education for Peace Vienna Forum held from July 05 to 06 at the Vienna International Center. The Philippine Mission was also represented by First Secretary Leilani S. Feliciano and Second Secretary Azela Arumpac-Marte.

During the session, Ambassador Collinson stated that the Philippine Government is the first country in Asia to formulate its own National Action Plan in compliance with the United Nations Security Resolution No. 1325. In the National Action Plan, the Philippines made provisions for benchmarking and indicated accomplishments in the area of gender mainstreaming in the area of disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation and peace-building.

The Ambassador cited that the Mindanao Peace Process in the Philippines and the process of peacebuilding, peace negotiations and formulation of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) was spearheaded by a Filipina government official, former Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles of the Office of the President for the Peace Process and as such, the Philippines is a pioneer in gender mainstreaming in the area of peace-building. She further added that women are by nature peacemakers and pacifists and have proven to be effective in the area of peace-building and peace-related issues at least in the Philippines, and that it is paramount that women in general should be given opportunities to equal employment and economic resources to allow them to become more assertive.

The said session was  hosted by Ms. Ana Teresa Dengo, Representative, UPeace (Vienna) and participated by the following panelists led by Ambassador Collinson: Mr. Jean du Preez, Chief, External Relations and International Relations, Comprehensive Nuclear test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO); Ms. Cecilia Vera Lagomarsino, Regional Academy on the United Nations, Ms. Veronika Stromsikova, Director, Office of Strategy and Policy, Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and Ms. Mutti Angitta, Lecturer, Department of International Relations, BINUS University.  

The Forum was attended by more than 500 participants from all over the world, including diplomats and representatives from Diplomatic Missions accredited in Vienna, professionals from international organizations, private sector, think tanks and the NGO community actively working in disarmament, non-proliferation and development, including International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), CTBTO Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and OPCW. END