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Ms. Yuyun WahyuningrumSenior Advisor on ASEAN and Human RightsHuman Rights Working Group (HRWG) Indonesiawahyuningrum@gmail.com

Understanding ASEAN: Its Way of Working, Structure & Engagement with Civil Society

ASEAN (Association of the Southeast Asia Nations)

10 member countriesEstablished. 1967

ASEAN Charter 15 Dec 2008

+ASEAN: Evolution of a Shared Vision1967 – vision of SE Asia community First few decades - interstate relations, nation building, economic development

New Millennium – ASEAN Community by 2015, state-to-people relations, strengthening social pillar, people-oriented organization

ASEAN Community

+

POLITICAL SECURITY

SOCIAL CULTUREECONOMY

ASEAN Political Security Community (APSC)“Enhancing peace, stability, democracy and prosperity in the region through comprehensive political and security cooperation” (142 Action Plan)

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)

“Enhancing competitive-ness for economic growth and development through closer economic integration”(154 Action Plan)

ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC)

“Nurturing human, cultural and natural resources for sustained development in a harmonious and people-centered ASEAN”. (339 Action Plan)

Interrelation of the Three Pillars to the Establishment of the ASEAN Community

+ ASEAN Organization Chart

The ASEAN Summit and the Ministerial Bodies of ASEAN

ASCC Council

AEC CouncilAPSC Council

ACC

Sectoral Ministerial

Body

Sectoral Ministerial

Body

Sectoral Ministerial

Body

CPR Senior Officials

Senior Officials

Senior Officials

CPR- Working Group

Working Group

Working Group

Working Group

ASEAN Summit

+ASEAN NAT SECRETARIATS & COMMITTEE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVES

National Focal Point Implement ASEAN

decisions at national level

Coordinate and support national preparations of ASEAN meetings

Promote ASEAN identity and awareness at the national level

Support the work of ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC)

Coordinate with ASEAN National Secretariats and ASEAN Sectorial Ministerial Bodies

Facilitate ASEAN Cooperation with External Partners

Liaise with SG and ASEC on all subjects relevant to its work

Any other matters as determined by the ACC

ASEAB Nat Secretariats Committee Permanent Reps

+The Evolution of ASEAN Committee on Women: To improve the status of women, and as an ASEAN’s machinery to

participate actively in the regional and international arena pertaining to women’s advancement.

The idea was coined in ASEAN Women Leaders’ Conference in 1975.

Established The ASEAN Sub-Committee on Women (ASW) in 1976 and was renamed the ASEAN Women’s Programme (AWP) in 1981.

To give a fresh impetus to the on-going ASEAN cooperation on women’s issues, this sectoral body was restructured into the ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW) in 2002 to coordinate and monitor the implementation of ASEAN’s key regional priorities and cooperation in women’s issues and concerns are carried out by the ACW which meets regularly every year.

ASEAN Ministerial meeting on Women, established on Oct 6, 2011

+ASEAN’s Cooperation on Women ASEAN’s Commitment on Women’s Rights:

Declaration on the Advancement of Women in ASEAN which was adopted by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers in 1988.

Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the ASEAN Region, adopted by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers in 2004, is the second declaration recognising important concerns for women.

Guided by two operational documents: The Work Plan for Women’s Advancement and Gender Equality

(2005-2010), which has its roots in the 1988 Declaration on the Advancement of Women in ASEAN.

The Work Plan to Operationalise the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (2006-2010), which builds on existing national efforts, moves forward the priorities of the other Work Plan and integrates all relevant priorities and measures into a consolidated action plan on violence against women.

+Activities Working in partnership with ASEAN Confederation on Women’s

Organisations (ACWO) Activities to include: different regional workshops, seminars,

training sessions and consultative meetings that provided platforms for government officials, civil society organisations, professionals and other stakeholders to exchange views, share experiences and build commitments and a common understanding on various gender issues.

2006: Joint Statement and Commitment to Implement Gender Mainstreaming was adopted.

Various publications and periodic regional reports were also produced. These include: The Thesaurus on Women in Development (1996); The First Regional Report on the Advancement of Women (1997); The Second Regional Report on the Advancement of Women (2002); The Third Regional Report on the Advancement of Women (2007).

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ASEAN Human Rights Systems

Conventions: Norms/

Instruments

Commission/Committee ASEAN Human Rights Court??

ACWC AICHRACMW

The 3Cs in Human Rights Architecture

+The Relationship between ASEAN and Civil Society

+ASEAN Definition on Civil Society Organization ASEAN Guideline on Civil Society Engagement, 2006 is a non-profit making association  of ASEAN persons,

natural or juridical, organised to promote, strengthen and help realise the aims and objectives of ASEAN cooperation in the political, economic, social, cultural, scientific, medical and technological fields, may be affiliated to ASEAN

Some countries in ASEAN do not accept the term and concept of civil society and civil society organization

+Privileges It may use the name “ASEAN” It may submit written statements or recommendations and

views on policy matters or on significant events or regional or international concerns

It may submit its own project proposals for Third Party funding, to be channeled through the ASEAN Secretariat,

It may initiate programmes of activities for presentation to its link body for appropriate action;

Access to ASEAN documents on a selective basis in consultation with the ASEAN Secretariat and or its link body;

Use of the facilities of the ASEAN Secretariat for its official meetings and other official activities in Jakarta;

The ASEAN Secretariat shall provide CSOs with key ASEAN publications every year.

+Termination, if: They engage in acts inimical to ASEAN or any of the

ASEAN Member Country; They act in contrary to the aims, objectives and

fundamental principles of ASEAN; They are found to have committed gross misconduct

which brings disrepute to ASEAN; They are inactive, defunct or fail to submit an annual

summary of their activities They change their constitutions, officials and

membership resulting in their inability thereafter to adhere to the guidelines.

+In sums, Member states are still in control of deciding who can in

and who cannot The participation is perceived as privilege The participation is not understood as RIGHT. It is more

like “stick” and “carrot” The affiliation is used as a way to control The affiliation to ASEAN is a political issue rather than a

only administrative requirement CSOs are not seen as partners in developing ASEAN

Community

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Civil Society Engagement

• ASEAN Civil Society Conference• Standard Setting

• ASEAN Peoples Charter• Thematic Engagement:

• Human Rights• Peace Building• Youth• Economic Justice• Peasant’s Movement• Persons with Disability• Migrant Workers• Environment/ Extractive Industries

+Strategy: Simultaneous Approaches

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)

ASEAN HUMAN RIGHTS: Credible,

Accessible, Responsive, Independent

Regional Lobby,

Network &

Advocacy

National Lobby,

Network, Advocacy

& Campaign

+ Element of CS’s Engagement:Crossing-

over,Member of

the WG, Assistance

for the Reps

Annual CS Performance Report on AICHR

Campaign: Media,

International Community,

public

Communication &

Inputs Submissi

on

Knowledge Building

+ Research

Relationship/

Stakeholder Building

Network-Building

incl. Social Networkin

g

Training and Workshops on ASEAN

human rights

mechanisms

Lobby & Working behind the Scene

Shaping the issues & priorities of ASEAN HR Mechanisms

Standard Setting Agenda Setting Influencing the

process, decision making & end-result

Pressures: Bottom-up, Top-down

Opinion building

+ Civil Society Involvement

Working Group has been part of SOM meeting

engaged HLP since it was firstly established in July 2008

From 2008-2009: 16 national consultations and 6 regional consultations from 9 countries and different thematic issues

National, regional and international (OHCHR) lobby activities

3 interface meetings with HLP Coordination meeting with other

groups Diplomatic Briefings Inputs for Instrument MW, TOR

AHRD, ROP AICHR, ROP ACWC, Work plans, AHRD

Part of the team of AICHR, ACWC

+ Current Initiatives

Targets of CS

Engagement

ASEAN Leaders

ASEAN Secretar

iatAICHR

AMM (Foreign Ministers Meeting)

ACWC

ACMW

Committee Permanent Representatives (CPR)

Sectorial Bodies

ASEAN SecGen

ASEAN Forum on Migrant Labor (AFML)Informal Dialogue

w ASEAN SecGen on Human Rights

ACSC/APF

CS Forum to ACMW

CS Forum on AICHR for AMM

CS Forum toACWC

Informal Meeting with Civil Society (Interface Meeting)

Informal Dialogue w ASEC on Communities

Informal Dialogue with CPR

More?

+Current CS Engagement with Human Rights Mechanisms

AICHR only want to meet with those who are affiliated with the ASEAN Charter

The newly adopted AICHR Guideline of Operation silent on CS engagement

Only in June 22 and Sept 12, AICHR conducted a regional consultation on AHRD w CSOs

Nat Consultation only happen in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines

CS continue to submit inputs, reports, papers to AICHR

AICHR is discussing the Guideline for Engagement with CS Groups

CS is a sensitive issue in AICHR, but during their visit to US, they met US-based CSOs

Started with Informal Dinner (2011), Informal Session (2011), Joint-Workshop (2012), Formal Session (2012)

Informal Session: 9 out of 20 Reps attended

Informal Session: 16 out 20 Reps attended

Joint-Workshop: 18 out of 20 Reps attended

Formal Session: 20 Reps attended Good Result, Good process,

substantive discussion, cordial ambiance

Inputs from CS have been included in the reference documents of the ACWC

The initial suggestion to erase civil society” & international standards” in TOR ACWC has been put down

ACWC uses inputs from CS in formulating their positions

AICHR ACWC

+What need to be influenced in ASEAN Creation spaces for sustaining and meaningful engagement and

participation for civil society Encouraging the accountability of the Commissions and organis

in ASEAN to be more independent, transparent , effective and responsive to the actual problems of the people in ASEAN and be incompliance with its international human rights obligations

Integrating gender and human rights in regional and national policies

Establishing the system and regional cooperation mechanism to deal with gender-based violence

Creating a system and mechanisms in ASEAN to review the implementation of all ASEAN Declaration related to gender issues

+ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples Forum

+The ACSC in the making Was initiated by the Government of Malaysia, 2005. Whilst chairing

ASEAN in 2005, the Government of Malaysia commissioned the ASEAN Study Centre of the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) to organise a civil society event parallel to the 11th ASEAN Summit on December 2005.

Attempts from the Government o take over the civil society process continue to happen. In 2007, Instead of building upon the existing initiative that has been pursued by the region’s CSOs, the Singaporean government decided to take the ownership of the ACSC back to the governments’ hands.

ASEAN is a platform to influence policy at the regional level (regional policies are increasingly affecting domestic politics, economics, and socio-cultural aspects of member countries)

The importance of the ACSC was not only because it was a forum that helped to consolidate CSO’s positions on major regional issues and agenda, but they were able to do so through direct interface with ASEAN leaders during the ASEAN Summit.

+ASEAN Civil Society Conferences/ASEAN Peoples Forums 2005-2012

Year Place The Name of the Event2005 Shah Alam,

Malaysia1st 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,

Thailand4th 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,

IndonesiaASEAN 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 ?2014 Myanmar ?

+Features of ACSC/APF 2005-2012

Interface Meeting

with Leaders

Regional

Process

National

ProcessInteraction between

civil society and officials

Statement of Civil

Society

Mirroring

ASEAN Summit

Country Day

Session

Civil Society-

Led Process

Follow-up mechanism

+What has been the collective knowledge we produced through 8 years’ ACSC/APF?

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

• Democracy• Human Rights• Transparency• Accountability

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

• Against unjust FTA, privatization,

• Reject neoliberal economic policies

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)

ASEAN Civil Society Conference 2005-2012

+Gains & Concerns

There have been some acknowledgements shown by ASEAN to the inputs of ACSC as it is reflected in the Chairman’s statements 2010 and 2011.

However, to what extent the recommendations have been taken seriously by ASEAN.

It is important to formulate a Follow-up Mechanism to bring the civil society’s recommendation to the actual work of ASEAN and inform the current and future policies in ASEAN

This tools can serve as another platform of dialogue between ASEAN and civil society.

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Institutionalization of Dialogue between Civil Society Organizations with Head of the States during Summit: 2005-2012

+ Leaders’ Interface Meeting with CSYear ACSC/APF Process (Track

III/CS)ASEAN ISIS Process (Track II/Think Tank)

2005, Malaysia

1st ACSC/ ASEAN Civil Society Conference in Shah Alam15 Minute MeetingMixed Delegation of 10 and 10 ASEAN Heads of State

2006, Philippines

2nd ACSCNo Interface Meeting with Leaders

APA/ASEAN Peoples’ Assembly by ASEAN ISIS (process recognized by ASEAN Chair) in ManilaNo Interface Meeting with Leaders. Instead Reading of APA Chairman’s Report

2007, Singapore

3rd ACSCNo Interface Meeting with Leaders

ACSC 2007 by SIIA Simon Tay (process recognized by ASEAN Chair)No Interface Meeting with Leaders. Instead Reading of ACSC 2007 Chairman’s Report

+ Leaders’ Interface Meeting with CSYear ACSC/APF Process (Track

III/CS)

2009, February, Bangkok

4th ACSC (within the 1st ASEAN Peoples’ Forum)30 minute Interface between CS Delegation and ASEAN Heads of StateHua-Hin, Thailand was divided into two sections. The first 15 minutes was for the meeting with CS Delegates and the rest 15 minutes was for those who have been rejected by the Rep of Government (Myanmar and Cambodia)

2009 October, Cha-am

2nd ASEAN Peoples’ Forum/5th ASEAN Civil Society Conference15 minutes, Interface Meeting between CS Delegation (some government appointed) and ASEAN Heads of State (optional)

2010 Hanoi

6th APFNo Interface Meeting with Leaders. Instead CS Reps met with Chair of ASEAN, the Vice Prime Minister of Vietnam.Recognition of the process. ASEAN Chairman’s statement: 2 paragraphs appreciation of organizing of the APF and took note of invaluable inputs from civil society

+Leaders’ Interface Meeting with CSYear ACSC/APF Process (Track

III/CS)

2011, Jakarta

•10 persons representing 10 countries•45 minutes (additional 15 mins from earlier agreement 30 mins) •4 speakers (extended from initially only one speaker allowed)•Time: 15:45 – •10+1 (HoS/G + Foreign Min), ASG + DSG Corp and Comm Affairs•Indonesia’s President greets all CS Delegates at the door•Indonesia’s President welcomes CS Delegates, makes speech and allows CS Delegate to speak•All delegates introduce themselves by mentioning the name and followed by “I am from ASEAN”•Indonesia’s President, Malaysia PM Najib, Razak, Thai PM Abishit Vejajiva, and PM Vietnam Nguyen Tan Dzung responded (see Annexes)•Indonesia’s President gives closing remarks and walks toward the CS Delegate and shakes their hand one by one. All leaders follow.

+Leaders’ Interface Meeting with CSYear ACSC/APF Process (Track

III/CS)

2012, Phnom Penh

• Head of States met representatives from GONGOs of 8 countries (absent: Indonesia and the Philippines)•30 minutes•Topic: gender and development

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+Lesson Learnt There are constraints that limits the meaningful engagement of CSOs . There are

also attempts from government to manipulate and control the participation of civil society, but at the same time there are also existing spaces for engagement.

Civil society participation in ASEAN can bring positive outcomes and at the same time detrimental consequences

Lessons: breaking stereotyping thru confidence building exercise (research, inputs,

diplomatic engagement) Persistence in expanding spaces for engagement through reform on laws on

participation and issues, i.e. human rights, etc. ASEAN is a platform to influence policy at the regional level (regional policies are

increasingly affecting domestic politics, economics, and socio-cultural aspects of member countries).

Despite contested, civil society contributes to the development of the meaning of a Community building and visible in number of ASEAN documents.

Civil Society engagement improve the accountability of ASEAN. A critical and watchful civil society is a factor of paramount importance for good governance.

Valuable inputs from civil society enhance the quality, number of ASEAN documents

Engaging civil society is now used to indicate whether ASEAN member state is incompliance with the Charter

+ Increased CS interests on ASEAN & HR

1983, there was a submission on the “Declaration to the Basic Duties of ASEAN Peoples and Governments” by the Regional Council for Human Rights in Asia (RCHRA), to ASEAN

1996, The ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism Working Group (Working Group) was established out of frustration of no developments after 1993’s Vienna Human Rights Declaration

1994-1997: expanding the discussion on possible regional human rights mechanisms in public spaces: Annual meeting of the ASEAN-Institute of Strategic

International Studies Colloquium on Human Rights (AICOHR)

Annual Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Informal Seminar on Human Rights.

2007, SAPA Task Force on ASEAN Human Rights was created 2008, Women’s Caucus was formed 2009, SAPA Task Force on Burma and ASEAN was established 2010, CRC Asia, Task Force on ASEAN and IP were created,

…

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+Thank you!