Civil Society Engagement in ASEAN (Yuyun Wahyuningrum)

ASEAN & CIVIL SOCIETY ADVOCACY

Yuyun Wahyuningrum, Senior Advisor on ASEAN and Human Rights, HRWG – Indonesia, [email protected]

2013

ENGAGING ASEAN

• Civil Society’s history of non-engagement in first 30 years; mutual distrust between CS and ASEAN

• Different perspectives on civil society

• ASEAN Charter language on peoples’ participation in ASEAN (Art 13)

• Lack of mechanisms for CS participation in ASEAN

• current practice by the ASEAN, i.e. CSO accreditation process

ASEAN

Individual/ Citizen

Victims/Survivors

Governments

Civil Society Groups, Lawyers

Think Tank

Private sectors

Who and what is civil society?

• “Civil society refers to the arena of uncoerced collective action around shared interests, purposes and values. In theory, its institutional forms are distinct from those of the state, family and market, though in practice, the boundaries between state, civil society, family and market are often complex, blurred and negotiated. London School of Economics Center for Civil Society www.ise.ac.uk

• Civil society comprises the realm of organizations that lie between the family at one extreme and the state at the other (Hegel 1821)

• Civil society is the sphere of institutions, organisations and individuals located between the family, the state and the marketin which people associate voluntarily to advance common interests (Anheirer 2004)

• [Civil society as] an anti-hegemonic force in society, whose purpose is to aggregate the interests of power of the marginalised members of society (Habermas 1996)

• “associations of citizens (outside their families, friends and businesses) entered into voluntarily to advance their interests, ideas and ideologies. The term does not include profit-making activity (the private sector) or governing (the public sector)” (Cardoso et al. (2004), We the peoples:

civil society, the United Nations and global governance. Report of the Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations-Civil Society Relations, UN document UN A/58/817, http://www.un.org/reform/a58_817_english.doc)

• Civil society is bourgeois society that maintains the dominant economic interests within it (Marx 1843/1979).

Purpose• advocate a collective good (Mueller

2004); typically ‘public interest groups’

• prime characteristic and motivation is a “search for meaning” and the “application of principled beliefs” (Khagram et al. 2002), rather than the use of authority (state) or the drive for profit (business

• Role in building social capital, provision of social justice. Is democracy more likely and of better quality where there is a strong CS?

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) therefore are a wide array of organisations: community groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), labour unions, indigenous groups, charitable organisations, faith-based organisations, professional associations, and foundations (World Bank 2006). Civil society embraces:

Institutionalised groups: such as religious organisations, trades unions, business associations and co-operatives.

Local organisations: such as community associations, farmers’ associations, local sports groups, non-governmental organisations and credit societies.

Social movements and networks (DFID 2006).

Contemporary dimensions of civil society 

Non-state actors• NON-STATE ACTORS: non governmental organisations,

organisations representing indigenous peoples, organisations representing national and/or ethnic minorities, local traders' associations and citizens' groups, cooperatives, trade unions, organisations representing economic and social interests, organisations fighting corruption and fraud and promoting good governance, civil rights organisations and organisations combating discrimination, local organisations (including networks) involved in decentralised regional cooperation and integration, consumer organisations, women's and youth organisations, teaching, cultural, research and scientific organisations, universities, churches and religious associations and communities, the media and any non-governmental associations and independent foundations, including independent political foundations.

• gather the main structures of organised society outside government and public administration; are independent of the state; are active in different fields;

NGOs

Civil Society Organisations

NGOs

Non State Actors

CSO Platforms in engaging ASEAN

Name frequent Engaging the body

ACSC/APF annually ASEAN SUMMIT Head of States/Governments

ASEAN Disability Forum (ADF) annually

ASEAN Youth Forum annually

ASEAN Grass-root People Assembly

annually

ASEAN Community Dialogue annually ASEAN Committee Permanent Representatives (CPR)

CPR

Civil Society Forum to AMM on human rights

annually ASEAN Ministers Meeting (AMM)

Foreign Ministers

Informal Dialogue between CSO and ASG

annually ASEAN Secretary General (ASG)

Secretary General

Jakarta Human Rights Dialogue in ASEAN

annually ASEAN Human Rights Mechanisms

AICHR, ACWC

GO-NGO Forum on Social Welfare & Development

annually ASEAN Senior Official Meeting on SWD

SOM officials

ASEAN Community Dialogue, 2012

Informal Dialogue with ASEAN Secretary General, 2012

Meeting with Minister Foreign Affairs, 2012

ASEAN Civil Society Conferences/ASEAN Peoples Forums 2005-2012

Year Place The Name of the Event

2005 Shah Alam, Malaysia

1st ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)

2006 Cebu, the Philippines

2nd ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)

2007 Singapore 3rd ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)

2009 Bangkok, Thailand

4th ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)/ 1st ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (APF)

2009 Hua Hin, Thailand

5th ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)/2nd ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (APF)

2010 Hanoi, Vietnam 6th ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (APF)

2011 Jakarta, Indonesia

ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)/ ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (APF) 2011

2012 Phnom Penh, Cambodia

ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)/ ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (APF) 2012 – March & November

2013 Brunei ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)/ ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (APF) 2013 - April

2014 Myanmar ?

CSO/NGO participation

Phnom Penh 2012

Jakarata 2011

Hanoi 2010

Cha Am 2009

Bangkok 2009

Singapore 2007

Cebu 2006

Malysia 2005

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Thematic Engagements with ASEAN

• Human Rights • Labor and Migrants• Agriculture and Trade Issues• Food Sovereignty and Land-related

issues • Extractives Industries: mining, gas, oil• Large scale development projects: dams• Environment/ Climate Change/ Climate

Justice• Housing Rights• Gender • Child Rights• Youth Participation• Refugees / Stateless Peoples/ Internally

Displaced Peoples • Indigenous Peoples• Communication Rights and Freedom of

Information• Burma• Peace and Conflict• Etc.

+ Our collective knowledge we produced

through 8 years’ ACSC/APF?

• Mainly: ILO, UNFCCC, CEDAW, UNCRC, UNDRIP, &MDGs

• Against unjust FTA, privatization,

• Reject neoliberal economic policies

• Democracy• Human Rights

• Transparency• Accountability

• Particularly: Women & Youth, Indigenous People / Ethnic Minority, and CSOs

CSO Participation in Decision

Making Process (1,2,3,6,7)

Adoption of Basic

Universal Values (3,4,5,6,7)

Adoption of UN

Bodies’ related

Conventions (1,2,4,5,6,7)

Holistic - rights-based

approach on

Development (1,2,4,5,6,7)

ASEAN’s Alternative Regionalism (Source: HRWG Study, 2011)

Perspectives and Learning on Engagement with ASEAN

• Gaps in CS capacities (countries, regional viz. country)

• Multiple capacities needed: articulating a peoples’ agenda; mounting regional and national campaigns; rooting regional campaigns on the national level; bringing different thematic constituencies behind regional campaigns; convincing the public; having champions in govt

• CS dependence on grants and CS-donor relations

• CS roles in governance evolving

• CS not homogenous, diff views on engagement

• Governments’ and GONGOs continuing distrust of CSOs

Changes brought about by CS engagement with ASEAN

• policy changes: human rights and other rights

• institutional mechanisms: AICHR, ACWC, discussions on mechanisms for CS participation

• changes in attitudes, outlooks

Strategy: Simultaneous Approaches

ASEAN

Regional Lobby,

Network &

Advocacy

National Lobby,

Network, Advocacy

& Campaign

Top Down: Creation of demand in regional level through regional organizations. ASEAN secretariat ASEAN

Representatives/Bodies International Institutions

Bottom Up: Pushing for need of making ASEAN HR Mechanism through civil society advocacy. Individual member countries CSOs/NGOs (Nat & Regional)

INSIDERS VS Outsiders

• PRESSURE FROM THE OUTSIDE through confrontational tactics: marching, attacking the ‘red zone’, showing the weakness or the contradictions of ‘the system’, raise public consciousness, ‘show the king is naked’

• ENGANGEMENT with policy-makers trying to provoke change ‘from within’

• Accept the rules of the game in order to gain access to policy arenas

• ‘Insiders’ use techniques like persuasion, lobbying, campaigning

• Critiques: Who is representative of CS/global public good? Risk of ‘watering down’ criticism in favor of participation

Confrontational attitude: “engagement” through pressure from the outside (counter-summits, campaigns, norm change…) and disruptive direct actions. Policy processes are perceived as “threats”.

OUTSIDE

Cooperative attitude: active engagement in policy-making processes through lobbying, advocacy and participation in multi-stakeholder processes. Policy processes are seen as “potential gain”. Insiders are the least independent from the political process.

INSIDE

Repertories of action and strategies towards policy processes

Dimension of engagement

INSIDE

OUTSIDE

Indonesia’s Experiences & Engaging ASEAN

Indonesia’s Experience• Our process toward democracy has informed that the pressures for a change

both came from inside and outside the country have proved to be effective and strategic.

• Organized society and the participation of civil society are the key to our economic and political reform in Indonesia.

• Apart of using international mechanism, we started to shape the opinion of diplomatic community • UN, EU on draft law on mass organization to get more supports to our position• ASEAN, OIC on expanding civil society space in closed countries and at the

institution• Request further protection for activists/ human rights defenders

• Now, we are not only working with foreign diplomats but also Indonesian diplomats

• Government has regular briefing with Foreign Diplomats and bilateral talk

• It is always effective to have e-list of diplomatic community for information distribution, i.e. [email protected]

• Lately, we have a successful campaign on freedom of religions and beliefs, LGBTIQ, ASEAN Human Rights Declaration

USING ASEAN

• Popularizing the concept of Civil Society in ASEAN Member States

• Civil Society Space: Expanding its space at national and regional level• ACSC/APF, ADF, AGPA• Country cases: Vietnam, Brunei, Burma

• Institutionalizing democratic dialogue• Informal Dialogue with ASG• ASEAN Community Dialogue with CPR• Jakarta Human Rights Dialogue• Informal Meeting with Head of States

• Setting norms and shaping practices in ASEAN and its member countries: Charter, TOR AICHR, AHRD