Invitation to Participate in Islam, Childhoods, and Building Cultures of Peace in the Southeast Asia Conference 2010

The Psychosocial Support and Children's Rights Resource Center together with the KKSP Foundation of Indonesia, Southeast Asia Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and the University of the Philippines Third World Studies Center will be holding an international conference entitled "Islam, Childhoods, and Building Cultures of Peace in Southeast Asia" at the Balay Kalinaw, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City from 29 to 30 September 2010. The conference aims to bring together academics, Islamic experts, government officials, and civil society to:

1. Discuss the issues of Islamic childhoods and building of cultures of peace in their own communities to allow for a comparison of the experiences across the various Southeast Asian countries and to gain a better understanding of these issues;
2. Facilitate the linkages among peace builders from the academe, civil society, governmental and inter-governmental institutions from the Japan and Southeast Asia who are interested in the issues covered by the conference;
3. To come up with policy and programmatic recommendations in helping Muslim children build cultures of peace and active non-violence among Muslims and non-Muslims in the Southeast Asian region.

The conference will have four clusters:
1. Islamic Childhoods in the Southeast Asian Context.
2. Child Rights and Islam.
3. Religious Extremism, Identity, and Muslim Children.
4. Building Cultures of Peace Among Children in Islamic and non-Islamic Communities.

We would like to invite you and members of your organization to attend the conference.

The conference is a two day affair where scholars and civil society members from various Southeast Asian countries will discuss various issues and concerns on Islam, childhoods, and building cultures of peace in their own communities. Attached is the provisional program of the conference.

The conference is FREE of charge. However, for those who wish to avail of Conference kits (that contains a CD of abstracts, papers, program, contact information of participants, and other materials) and partake of the snacks and lunch, we will charge you a modest amount of:

• Early bird participants (those who will register and pay on or before 18 September 2010): PhP750 for local and USD50 for international participants. Those who will avail of the discounted rates must deposit their payment to Banco de Oro (BDO) Account Number 3930064728 (Scout Albano Branch). You may deposit this in any BDO Branch. If you are an international participant, you can send it through bank transfer. The account number is 3930064981 while the swift code is BNORPHMM. After paying, please scan the deposit slip or bank transfer form and send it to pstcrrc@gmail.com. You may also fax the copy to . You will have to fax it during office hours (9am to 6pm, Manila time). Make sure that your name is clearly written on the form and to send it to Mike Quilala.

• Participants who will pay on the day of the Conference itself will be charged PhP1,000 for local participants and USD60 for international participants.

We hope to see you in the conference! Thank you very much.

Sent through email by Psychosocial Support and Children's Rights Resource Center