20-21 April 2009, Manila, Philippines

ASEM must act now to deliver sustainable development and protection for the poorest

The global economic crisis that is taking place along-side a food, energy and an ecological crisis is driving tens of millions of people deeper into poverty, worsening inequality, significantly setting back development, as well as giving rise to human rights violations, discriminatory practices, and social unrest.  The wreckage of these crises are both long-term and of immediate consequence, both structural and conjunctural, and demand not cosmetic reforms but a deep-rooted and sustainable transformation.

There is imperative for all – governments and the peoples –   to come up with a response that is people-centered and sustainable. The policies must lead to a just, equitable and sustainable development, and more accountable and democratic institutions – based on respect for gender equality, our environment and fundamental human rights. Further, that there must be integration of social dimension in ASEM processes not only because of the dire consequences of globalization on people's lives but more importantly, because social protection is central to equitable and sustainable development.

We, from the civil society organizations in Asia and Europe, recognize the effort of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to discuss increased cooperation for achieving sustainable development in ASEM countries, focusing on progress in achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs), realising social inclusion, addressing climate change, and improving aid effectiveness.

We believe ASEM leaders should take this unique opportunity to implement urgent measures to safeguard and protect the millions of poor and vulnerable women and men across Asia and Europe who are being most impacted by the current economic crisis and implement effective commitments to ensure sustainable development.

While ASEM recognized in its Beijing Declaration the promotion of full and productive employment and decent work for all as crucial to safeguarding and improving people's livelihood, realizing effective social cohesion and achieving the MDGs, and the need for social protection systems to provide social security and support labor-market participation and emphasized achieving a fair distribution of incomes as key to social cohesion, the translation of these into concrete policies and actions have yet to be seen.
 
The integration of sustainable development in ASEM’s mandate is necessary not only to address the dire negative impacts of neo-liberal economics on people's lives, but also because the global financial crisis has brought into sharp focus the drastic inequalities across Asia and Europe and the worsening poverty and exclusion faced by people in developing countries, which have been reeling from the rise in commodity prices, dramatic declines in trade and remittances, and diminishing aid budgets.

ASEM must demonstrate that it is serious in exercising leadership in addressing the global crisis and ending poverty in the context of sustainable development.   

We, therefore, call on ASEM leaders to implement social protection policies for the poor as an urgent action to support and protect people in poor ASEM countries. Poor people are being pushed further and further into destitution and social exclusion as a result of the crisis.

The global financial crisis has underscored the urgency and relevance of promoting social protection to help the poor endure the crisis, as well as achieving sustainable development and social justice.

 Social protection goes beyond the concept of social security and insurance programs. It is about claiming the most vulnerable people’s basic right to food, shelter, water, health, jobs, and other essential services. These are not only the people who have lost homes and jobs as a result of the crisis, but also the millions of families in developing countries that have long been living in crisis conditions, neglected by their governments and denied their basic rights and access to services and resources.

Further, we call on ASEM countries to immediately:

1.    Commit to increased development cooperation in support of social protection programs in developing countries that focus on claiming the poor people’s basic right to food, shelter, water, jobs, health, and other essential services.
2.    Generate further momentum towards attaining the MDGs through credible, transparent, specific, and accelerated people-centered development projects. Increase role for local governments in service delivery or in the achievement of MDGs. The delivery of MDGs and of essential services should also be done with communities as often as agents of bureaucracies do it.
3.    Accelerate increases in aid to meet long-standing aid commitments, as well as ensure transparent, long-term and predictable aid flows to developing countries. Meeting the aid pledge of 0.7% of gross national income is now more important than ever, as the failure of the donor countries to honor this commitment has hampered progress towards achieving the MDGs.
4.    Ensure that aid is free from imposed trade and procurement conditionalities.
5.    Commit to development cooperation that will also move ASEM countries onto a low carbon pathway and prepare the ground for consensus on climate change at COP15 in Copenhagen in December 2009.
6.    Commit to assistance to address the effects of climate change that is over and above current aid commitments and commitments to fund the MDGs.
7.    Support CSO call for institutionalization of CSO participation in aid effectiveness. CSO participation will not only enhance ownership, but also ensure greater accountability and transparency in the use of ODA.
8.    Enforce a set of rules on how ODA will be availed and localised in the region.      
9.    Implement a system of national-local grants that rewards improved service delivery rather than loyalty. This will inevitably create a reciprocal dependence of politicians upon the communities that can help improve services and finance local public goods. Through performance-based grants ODA can be harnessed to support not just a more prudent and efficient use of resources but also a political system that is centered on priorities that people choose.
Signatories:

•    Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF)
•    Institute for Popular Democracy (IPD)
•    Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) – Philippine coalition
•    Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) – Southeast North and Central Asia Secretariat
•    ODA Watch Philippines
•    CODE-NGO
•    Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC)
•    Earth Council-Asia Pacific