Southeast Asia is home to several armed conflicts. Southern Thailand has been the scene of a separatist insurgency for decades—which intensified in the early 2000s— while Myanmar is ruled by a junta that took over the country in 2021. In Indonesia, conflict between the government and extremist groups, as well as persecution of religious minorities, are persistent issues. Amidst such conflicts, peace education is a critical need.
From September 24 to 25 2025, UNESCO organized a meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, on sustainable peace education in Southeast Asia. The meeting aimed to bring together policymakers, educators, international organizations, and peace practitioners to, according to UNESCO, “explore the transformative role of education in sustaining peace by fostering reconciliation, engaging in the root causes, and addressing all forms of discrimination and hate speech.”
The meeting was built on the 2023 UNESCO Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development.
In his keynote address in the opening session, Professor Abdul Mu’ti, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education of Indonesia, discussed education as a key promoter of tolerance, empathy, and mutual understanding.
In the first session, attendees discussed how to implement peace education throughout the region, according to 14 guiding principles and seven key areas for implementing the UNESCO Recommendation. The session included speakers from Indonesia, Myanmar, and Timor-Leste, who focused on the need for “contextually grounded and inclusive policy-making with meaningful youth engagement.”
The second session tackled the issue of peace education from a lifelong learning perspective. Speakers included policy stakeholders from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Timor-Leste, who discussed their national strategies and practices. The stakeholders stressed the importance of teacher education, school leadership, and curriculum reform encompassing civic and human rights education.
The third session was titled “Strategies for 2026–2030 for Transformative Education to Advance Peace in the Region.” Speakers from Cambodia, Timor-Leste, and Thailand discussed how education should address reconciliation, addressing historical trauma, and integrating multiple narratives into history education. The speakers urged that education should, rather than simply teaching knowledge, support empathy, healing, and critical reflection.
The fourth session was titled “Fostering Human Development and Lasting Peace through Education.” The head of UNESCO’s Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU), Sunmi Ji, described APCEIU’s efforts to promote a culture of peace in areas such as teacher professional development, curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and partnerships.
The fifth session showcased successful examples of peace education in the Philippines, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, and Malaysia, including through the use of art and digital media. In the sixth session, presenters from Indonesia, Thailand, and Timo-Leste called for integrating peace studies, human rights, and ecological justice into higher education. They also called for enhancing faculty training and ensuring academic freedom.
In the final interactive session, participants were given the chance to answer the question “What three topics would you consider for education for peace in ASEAN?” The highest number of votes went to Global Citizenship Education (GCED), followed by social justice, media literacy, values and ethics, history and memory, climate change and sustainability, and artificial intelligence.
Peace News Network (PNN) has published articles in the past focusing on peace education in Indonesia. In September 2025, PNN published an article on UNESCO’s Social Media 4 Peace project. The project, which launched its second phase in Indonesia in July, aims to build resilience in societies against potentially harmful online content, particularly hate speech. It aims to strengthen freedom of expression and promote peace through social media and digital technology.
In December 2024, PNN published an article on multicultural religious education for peace by Saepudin Mashuri. Mashuri observed how schools in the Poso Regency—which has a history of conflict between Muslims and Christians—had sucessfully implemented an educational model including religious learning, extracurricular activities, socio-religious activities, and humanitarian solidarity programs responsive to peace practices.
Keywords: Indonesia, Southeast Asia, education, peace education, Thailand, Timor-Leste, peace, conflict, conflict resolution
Tara Abhasakun
Tara Abhasakun is Peace News Network (PNN)'s managing editor. She is journalist based in Christchurch, New Zealand, and formerly in Bangkok, Thailand. She has reported on a range of human rights issues involving youth protests in Thailand, as well as arts and culture. Tara's work has appeared in several outlets, including Al Jazeera and South China Morning Post.
