ASEAN Peoples' Forum, Bangkok "Advancing a Peoples' ASEAN"

To engage or disengage!
A Report from the Civil Society Dialogue with ASEAN Heads of Government/ State
28 February 2009, Hua Hin/Cha-am

The civil society representatives decided to continue the engagement with the ASEAN and attended the interface with the ASEAN leaders today although they had initially contemplated staging a walkout when colleagues from Burma and Cambodia were barred from attending the interface by their respective governments. The underlying need to maintain open, continued and constructive dialogue in order to ensure the voices and concerns of ASEAN peoples are heard propelled the civil society representatives to unite and stand in solidarity and engage with the ASEAN leaders. The civil society representatives decided to be introduced to the ASEAN leaders as the voices of ASEAN and not by country or organisational affiliation.

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE ASEAN DIALOGUE BETWEEN CIVIL SOCIETY AND HEADS OF GOVT

Below is the full text of the statement made by civil society representatives who were allowed into the room during the ASEAN Civil Society Dialogue with Heads of Government/State (HoG/S)which took place at the Dusit Thani Hotel Cha-am /Hua Hin.

Hua-Hin, Thailand 28 February 2009) This afternoon’s interface meeting between the 10 ASEAN leaders and civil society groups raises doubt whether the ASEAN is ready to make Article 1 of the ASEAN Charter on civil society participation a reality and give meaning to the people-oriented community building, said the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) civil society groups today.

A youth representative was part of the civil society team that went to Hua Hin on February 28. In the van on the way to Hua Hin, the older members of the team were shocked to find out that youth groups who had been organizing workshops on ASEAN for the past year that culminated in the ASEAN Youth Camp Feb 17-19, had been excluded from the ASEAN Youth Dialogue with Heads of Government/State (HoGS).

We are the youth of Southeast Asia—young persons from different organizations in eight ASEAN countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam—plus South Korea). We would like to make our voices heard, as the youth of the region, the next generation who will eventually inherit it.

(28 February 2009) (Interface with ASEAN Leaders)

We, women civil society activists and human rights defenders from the ASEAN region have come together as a Women’s Caucus to ensure that women’s human rights issues and concerns are reflected, integrated and implemented in all Southeast Asia countries, including within the ASEAN structures and processes.

The much-vaunted new era of a ‘caring and sharing’ Association of South East Asian Nations got off to a rocky start on Saturday when the governments of Burma and Cambodia threatened to walk out of a meeting with representatives of civil society if their nationals were included.