It will be held at the Khan Quang Do Hotel in Hanoi, Viet Nam on March 10-11, 2012.

The CSO Meeting will bring together representatives of farmers, fisher folk, Indigenous
Peoples, rural women, rural youth, cooperatives, NGOs and other civil society organizations, to discuss the priority issues that are affecting the food security of the region. Partners from governments, donor community, international and intergovernmental bodies are expected to join.

The CSO Meeting aims to provide the 31st FAO-APRC critical inputs from various CSO
perspectives and positions on the priority issues they have identified through consultative processes over the last several years. They are anchored on field experience, giving voices to the concerns and aspirations of the marginalized rural peoples.

Among the objectives of the CSO Consultation are:

1. To exchange situation of agriculture and food in the region and share experiences with a view to enhancing mutual understanding, solidarity, friendship, cooperation among the CSOs in South East Asia and South Asia for sustainable  development of agriculture .
2. To analyze the situation of agriculture and food in Asia and the Pacific region and   to  make recommendations at the same time  working  out  proactive, active and constructive measures to cope with common challenges / problems.
3. To facilitate the integration of the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) in the FAO-CSO regional processes and promote other innovative CSO mechanisms in the region towards the strengthening of the role and participation of CSOs  in the development processes at all levels.

Participants come mainly from SOMRDPE focal agencies, other national agencies concerned with RDPE, and peoples’ organizations, CSOs and NGOs, resource agencies and other ASEAN national sectoral bodies.

The new RDPE FAP is subject to a regional SOMRDPE workshop at the ASEC HQ in August and for approval during the 7th AMRDPE in Nomber 2011 in Brunei Darussalam.

RDPE Consultation in Cambodia

RDPE Consultation in Malaysia

RDPE Consultation in Philippines

RDPE Consultation in Laos

RDPW Consultation in Thailand

This research on ATIGA was anchored by AsiaDHRRA for the Trade Advocacy Group (TAG) and was undertaken by Ms. Riza Bernabe.

The research attempts to develop concrete and specifi c recommendations on the Philippines’ regional trade policy including positions in regional trade agreements by generating and consolidating information on the capabilities as well as sensitivities of the various sectors with respect to regional trade.

These recommendations can form part of civil society’s advocacy agenda on ATIGA in particular, and ASEAN in general. The research was designed to capture the effect of ATIGA on national trade policies and more importantly, assess the capability of local sectors to compete within its framework of greater regional trade liberalization.

AsiaDHRRA is a member of Trade Advocacy Group (TAG), a platform for trade campaigning and information exchange in the Philippines.

Download the ebook here…

Plenary Session 4: The Global Food and Financial Crisis: Lessons and the Way Forward

1. Grassroots Strategies to address the crisis: An Indigenous Perspective by Jenifer Lasimbang, Asia Indigenous Peoples’ Pact
2. Food Crisis as the Result of Disobedience to Peasants by Aliansi Petani Indonesia/API (Indonesian Peasant Alliance)

Plenary Session 5: Agriculture and Food Governance – CFS in Focus

1. Reflections

As member of the Regional Steering Committee responsible for the ACSC3 organizing, AsiaDHRRA actively took part in the conference, together with partners from DHRRA Malaysia and Bina Desa, and AFA. DHRRA Malaysia joined in the symbolic opening of the conference plenary with the sharing of issues confronted by displaced Indian women in Malaysia.

It also co-organized a workshop panel on “Roadmap towards a Sustainable Rural Development in ASEAN” with AFA, Focus on the Global South, and Third World Network. Main speakers were from the farmers, fishers and Indigenous Peoples’ sectors. A presentation on a possible roadmap to sustain an effective engagement work with various policy making bodies took place and action steps to follow thru on the process of strengthening the ranks of CSOs on rural development were identified.

A conference statement highlighted the CSOs call for more transparency and participation in the process of signing the ASEAN Charter and the CSO solidarity calls given the serious human rights violations happening in Myanmar or Burma.

Click here to read the ACSC3 statement

AsiaDHRRA co-lead the discussion of the roundtable on ASEAN Economic integration highlighting the serious impacts of an integration that is unmindful of the dire situation and meaningful participation of the affected marginalized rural sectors, and offering a framework that is deemed more responsive to the calls for a people-oriented economic integration that benefits all, especially the poor and the least developed countries in ASEAN.

Click here to read the Final version of Chairman’s Report

Click here to read the Asiadhrra presentation “Notes to Roundtable on ASEAN Economic Integration”

The panel which was well attended focused on the serious social ramifications on small men and women farmers, on workers and on the service sector, both formal and informal, of the ongoing liberalization among the ASEAN Member Countries. Key questions were asked. What can governments, trade unions, and small farmers do to ensure that any process of regional integration and liberalization is equitable and inclusive? How can the pitfalls of liberalization be avoided? What lessons can we learn from the practices of various groups and other governments on how to meet the challenges and limitations of trade and service sector liberalization ?

The panel was jointly organized with the ASEAN Service Employees Trade Union Council (ASETUC), Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA), Fair Trade Alliance (FTA), Homebased Workers’ Networks in Southeast Asia (Homenet Southeast Asia) and Union Network International -Asia Pacific Region (UNI-APRO).

The 6th APA with the theme “ASEAN at 40: Realizing the Peoples’ Expectations” is an annual event organized by the ASEAN ISIS network. An important session on the challenges, opportunities, and future directions on Myanmar in ASEAN concluded the plenary sessions.

The idea of strengthening the networking among groups keen on pursuing advocacy and engagement with ASEAN was further heightened by the fact that ASEAN is becoming rules-based, with a Charter scheduled for signing in November. A clearer bases of unity and agenda is deemed helpful in CSO posturing before ASEAN.

Initial commitments to see thru the brainstorming process have been expressed by representatives from AFA, APFNS, SEAFish, EARWG, AAI, and individual rural development advocates. Two sessions took place in October, a related session dovetailed to regional a workshop in early November 2007.

The conference was deemed very fruitful with the very rich exchange on well prepared case studies and of views from a range of development practitioners coming from international research institutions, universities, CSOs and rural women’s groups.

The conference synthesis identified possible areas of cooperation at different levels, regionally and bilaterally, which most participants have expressed openness to work on.

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Click here to download the Asiadhrra Presentation

Click here to read the Highlights of the seminar

Click here to read the Proceedings of the seminar

Singapore Declaration
(Final Version)

1. We, about 200 participants from civil society organizations and trade unions across Southeast Asia gathered at the Third ASEAN+ Civil Society Conference (ACSC-III) in Singapore on 2-4 November 2007 to discuss issues of common concerns to people’s lives in the context of the upcoming 13th ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Summit which is scheduled to take action on the adoption of an ASEAN Charter.

2. Based on our deliberations during the ACSC-III under the theme “Moving Forward – Building an ASEAN+ People’s Agenda” III as well as in line with the statements adopted at the ACSC-I (Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 2005) and ACSC-II (Cebu in Dec. 2006) and submission of proposals to Eminent People’s Group (EPG) and High-level Task Force for the ASEAN Charter by SAPA (Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy) Working Group on ASEAN, we strongly urge the ASEAN and its member-states to consider our proposals and demands in their deliberations of the proposed draft Charter at the Summit.

• a) Universally recognized values, principles and normative standards should be fully enshrined, in all standard-setting processes within the ASEAN, in particular, human rights, social and economic justice, participatory democracy and rule of law, right to development, ecologically sustainable development, cultural diversity, gender equality, peace and people’s security and peaceful transformation of conflicts.
• b) People-centered regional cooperation and solidarity in accordance with the above-mentioned values and principle should be a key guiding principle for regional integration process in ASEAN.
• c) A holistic approach should be adopted that reflects the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of human rights.
• d) All key international legal instruments including human rights, humanitarian law and core labour and environmental standards should be ratified and fully implemented.
• e) Effective mechanism should be established for accountability and participation of civil society organizations, trade unions, social movements, rural sector and other affected communities in all processes and deliberations of ASEAN and its bodies.
• f) Effective measures to eliminate all forms of direct and indirect discriminations and promote substantive equality for the full development and advancement of all disempowered and marginalized sectors, in particular women.
• g) Effective measures should be established to prevent conflicts and systematic and gross human rights violations within the ASEAN and within countries in the region including strict imposition of sanctions on violators.
• h) Effective measures should be developed and implemented to address the adverse impact of globalization and regional integration.
• i) An ASEAN Environment Community should be established to promote and protect ASEAN’s environmental integrity and sustainability in line with the other three pillars (Economic, Security and Socio-Cultural).
• j) An effective and accountable human rights mechanism for ASEAN in accordance with international standards should be established.

3. We also strongly support the Statement of the Singapore Civil Society issued by the Singapore Working Group for ASEAN (SWGA) for the ACSC-III which echoes most of our calls in this Declaration, particularly on the need for ASEAN member-states to ratify key human rights Conventions and prioritize human rights education; guarantee decent work; enable the people to exercise their freedoms of expression, organization and collective bargaining; providing social protection and social security; recognition of the right to self-determination of cultural identity and the rights of indigenous peoples; and ensure the participation of women in politics at all levels.

4. We call on the ASEAN and its member-states to ensure that these fundamental principles and demands are enshrined in the ASEAN Charter towards the realization of a caring and sharing ASEAN Community.

5. Heads of States should ensure that the following requirements are met before the signing of the ASEAN Charter:

• a) Ensure transparency through the disclosure of the draft ASEAN Charter for meaningful public consultations and discussions, and guarantee substantive peoples participation at the national and regional levels in the adoption of the ASEAN Charter
• b) End and prevent all serious breaches of principles that should be fundamental to the ASEAN, including undemocratic change of government and systematic and gross violations of human rights

6. We reaffirm our call for the ASEAN to require democratic referendum process at the national level to allow the peoples in each country to give direct mandate to the ASEAN Charter.

7. We urge the ASEAN to create effective mechanisms for transparency, accountability, people’s participation, and Social Dialogue.

8. We reaffirm our strong commitment to work for the creation of a just, people-centered, caring and sharing ASEAN Community that shall be enshrined in an ASEAN Peoples’ Charter.

9. Through this Declaration, we are launching the process of drafting the ASEAN Peoples’ Charter that will embody the shared values and collective aspirations of the peoples of the region. We commit to drafting an ASEAN Peoples’ Charter by the ACSC-IV to be held in Thailand in 2008.