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Asia-Europe Caucus for Democracy and Human Rights

The Asia Europe People's Forum in cooperation with Développement et Civilisations Lebret-Irfed, FORUM-Asia,Indonesian Partnership on Local Governance Initiative, Institute for Popular Democracy, and One World Action will be holding the Asia-Europe Caucus for Democracy and Human Rights on June 6-8, 2008 in the Philippines.

THEME: Asserting People-Centered and Participatory Democracy, Reclaiming Human Rights

Restrictions on democracy and the growing violations of human rights are becoming increasingly evident in contemporary globalising and globalised regions of Asia and Europe. At the heart of this emergent tragedy are the restrictions and attacks on human rights in many countries in the Asian region. At the same time there is a gradual delinking of the European Union’s political-economic institutions and practices and the processes of democratic accountability. Moves towards more participatory, people-centred democracy at local, national and regional levels face growing challenges. These trends are intensifying as Asia and Europe have been locked into the processes of globalisation, the militarisation that comes with it, and its attendant contradictions such as environmental destruction and other forms of ecological degradation.

FTAs IN ASIA-EUROPE RELATIONS

Alfredo C. Robles, Jr.
De La Salle University – Manila
13 March 2007

This is the paper of Alfredo C. Robles,Jr., Professor of International Studies, in cooperation with the Institute for Popular Democracy. He is author of THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INTERREGIONAL RELATIONS: ASEAN AND THE EU (Ashgate, 2004), THE ASIA-EUROPE MEETING: THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF INTERREGIONALISM (Routledge,2008), and "EU FTA Negotiations with SADC and Mercosur: Integration into the World Economy or Market Access for EU Firms?" THIRD WORLD QUARTERLY,29:1 (February 2008), pp.181-97.

1. The European Commission decided to propose launching FTA negotiations with ASEAN in October 2006 only after its strategies within ASEM and in the ASEAN-EU context failed to achieve their goals, and individual ASEAN members had already concluded FTAs with Japan and/or the US. The process leading up to the decision to negotiate an FTA deserves closer scrutiny, as do the ideas of the ASEAN-EU Vision Group Report and the European Commission regarding the rationale of an FTA.

Relevance and Accountability of the AEPF

by Tina Ebro

[Commentary on Julie Gilson's paper “Structuring Accountability: Non-Governmental Participation in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)“ at the Workshop on Civil Society and Accountable Global Governance, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 13-15 June 2007.

The workshop critiqued papers --- on civil society vis-a-vis the WB, IMF, WTO, Commonwealth, OECD, ICANN, IFAT, OIC and ASEM -- that would be incorporated into the book project of Jan Aart Scholte of Warwich University and the University of Gothenburg. ]

I am not speaking here as an AEPF representative but I think the members of the AEPF network will welcome this initiative, and the paper of Julie and our discussions could provide more impetus to the AEPF to address its organizational challenges.

The paper is thoughtful on the general issues of accountability. It is a good attempt of exploring a highly under-researched topic, namely civil society engagement of inter-regional mechanisms and a good start on laying out the concrete experiences of ASEM-civil society relations. It has also tackled well the lack of external accountability of the ASEM and the structural constraints of civil society in demanding democratic accountability from the ASEM. However, I would suggest changes of some perceptions and conclusions related to the AEPF and further interviews to update and address factual gaps.

The Sixth Asia-Europe People’s Forum: presentation of the three thematic areas

The sixth Asia-Europe People’s Forum ( AEPF 6) was held on 3rd - 6th September 2006 in Helsinki, Finland. The program was organised around three thematic areas (or “clusters”): “Peace and Security”, “Economic Security and Social Rights” and “Democracy and Human Right”s. Bellow are the three “Concept papers” introducing each area and its plenary.
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Reflections on the Asia–Europe People’s Forum 2006, Helsinki

The 6th Asia-Europe Peoples Forum (AEPF) took place between the 3rd and 6th of September this year in Helsinki, just before the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). It was organized by the National Organizing Committee of Finnish NGOs and the International Organizing Committee (IOC) of the AEPF, with the Institute for Popular Democracy (IPD) as the main coordination point in Asia, and the Transnational Institute (TNI) in Europe.

Since 1996, the AEPF have been organized in Bangkok, London, Korea, Copenhagen and Hanoi. The Forum brings together progressive civil society organizations that critically engage ASEM and challenge its big business bias and neo-liberal agenda, as opposed to an alternative people-centered agenda. From the perspective of activist groups, ASEM, whose member countries (in Europe, East and South-east Asia, including India and Pakistan next year) have influence over half the world’s economies, should be a prime mechanism for cooperation to benefit and create opportunities for all, especially for the poor and disempowered in both Asia and Europe. The Forum in Helsinki was a consolidating event in the development of the AEPF as a unique bi-regional network. It was participated in by 450 individuals from 30 countries and from more than 200 NGOs and social movements, including those from China, Vietnam and the Eastern Europe.

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