FORUM-ASIA Press Conference
Civil Society Talkback: Reaction After Meeting with ASEAN Foreign Ministers
and
Analysis of the ASEAN Summit 2019: Human Rights and People Centered Development
Saturday 2 November 2019 at 4 pm
TK Palace Hotel
Room IVY 2 (Building 3, 2nd Floor), 54/7 Chaeng Watthana Rd, Thung Song Hong, Lak Si, Bangkok
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ASEAN civil society groups will provide a reaction to the media after holding an inter-face meeting with ASEAN Foreign Ministers hosted by H.E. Don Pramudwinai, Thai Foreign Minister, 2 November 2019, and release a public statement
The meeting with the Foreign Ministers is expected to discuss serious NGO and community concerns about human rights, environmental degradation, political and social issues, and the shutting out of people in development decisions affecting them. The meeting will also discuss the importance of ASEAN member states ensuring there is political space to hold an ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF) during ASEAN events in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2020.
Today’s meeting marked the first formal inter-face meeting in five years between ASEAN ministers and representatives of ASEAN civil society groups meeting under the ACSC/APF banner.
Panelists
- Chalida Tajaroensuk, Co-Chair, ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF)
- Suntaree Saeng-ging, Co-Chair, ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF)
- Dong Huy Cuong, Vietnam Organizing Committee, ACSC/APF
- Rachel Arinii Judhistari, FORUM-ASIA
- Phil Robertson, Deputy Director, Asia Division, Human Rights Watch
Media contacts in Bangkok
- For more information or if you want to set up an interview with any of the panelists, please contact Marte Hellema, Programme Manager Communication and Media for FORUM-ASIA at [email protected].
Immediately following the press conference, FORUM-ASIA will launch its latest publication, which critically reviews more than a decade of failure by ASEAN’s human rights commission to serious address pressing human rights issues in the region. The report, A decade in review: Assessing the Performance of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), comes as the state of human rights in ASEAN member states continued to deteriorate in 2019.Sadly, ASEAN has yet to take any action to stop open violence and human right abuses across the region, or act to prevent the suppression of freedoms that should be universally enjoyed. Furthermore, ASEAN’s principle of non-interference remains an insurmountable obstacle blocking efforts to effectively address human rights violations, even in instances of major crises like the ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya, in its member states.
About the organisers:
The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is a network of human rights organisations across Asia. FORUM-ASIA works to promote and protect human rights, including the right to development, through collaboration and cooperation among human rights organisations and defenders in Asia and beyond. www.forum-asia.
