[ACSC4-APF Statement] Advancing a Peoples’ ASEAN
This is the final statement of the ASEAN People's Forum - ASEAN Civil Society Conference, held on 20-22 February 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand. It was submitted to ASEAN leaders during an interface session with civil society during the 14th ASEAN Summit on 28 February in Huahin, Thailand
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2008 ASEAN People's Charter Processes - Schedule of Workshops
As a continuing effort for civil society engagement with the ASEAN, SEACA is supporting national and local civil society organizations to converge for country Workshops and Roundtable Discussions (RTDs) on the ASEAN People's Charter and Engaging the Drafting of the ASEAN Political/Security Community (ASC) and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprints.
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NEW BOOK: Civil Society Reflections on South East Asian Regionalism: ASEAN@40
This book is an initial attempt at documenting how far peoples’ advocacies have reached in ASEAN. It is a product of collaboration among groups and individuals involved in various advocacies and campaigns in the region, most of whom are active members of the Solidarity for Asian Peoples’ Advocacies (SAPA) Working Group on ASEAN.
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NEW: SEACA Occasional Paper on Irregular Migration
The report identifies the kinds of NGOs involved in advocacy on behalf of irregular labor migrants; the key issues upon which those NGOs focus; and the short-term and long-term strategies they employ in their attempts to improve conditions for undocumented foreign workers at the local level.
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NEW: SEACA Occasional Paper on Regionalism
This paper aims to shed light on two things: (1) the various economic cooperation and integration it gave rise to; and (2) the extent of civil society analysis and view of regionalism and regional integration. It is hoped that by juxtaposing the basic frameworks of official ASEAN policy with those of civil society analysis and advocacy, broad themes for engagement and/or resistance may be extracted and initial unities on regionalism can be developed.
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10 Primers on Understanding the ASEAN
SEACA offers this Primers Series, Understanding the ASEAN: Building the ASEAN People’s Capacity to Engage a Truly People-centered ASEAN, as a humble contribution to civil society’s efforts of bringing the ASEAN closer to its people.
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New ASEAN Charter Lacks Vision
When leaders of the member governments of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meet for their 13th summit in Singapore today, the world's attention will be focused on what they will do on the matter of Burma. The Burma question has become a yearly embarrassment and pressure point for Asean, and everyone is curious whether the collective global indignation after the September violence will prompt Asean leaders to do something different this year.
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SAPA WG on ASEAN's Analysis of the ASEAN Charter
When the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced that it will embark on a process of building a Charter to formalize its agreements and establish its legal framework, civil society groups paid attention. While ASEAN has been generally inaccessible and non-transparent, national and regional CSOs and social movements saw the strategic value of engaging the Charter process. We saw it as a space to stake claims on ASEAN and to demand accountability for its actions. We saw the Charter building process as an anchor for discussing ASEAN and generating interest on what the Association does. By engaging the process, CSOs and social movements hoped to pry open possibilities for transforming ASEAN into a rules-based organization that would work for the mutual benefit not only of ASEAN states but of ASEAN peoples and communities as well.
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ASEAN Charter Leaked
The Association of South East Asian Nations' (ASEAN's) well-kept secret is out. Alternative Thai media organization, Prachatai, has obtained a copy of the draft Charter, marked 'Confidential,' and posted it on their website. To download, please follow this link:http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=362
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ASEAN Peoples’ Charter Process Launched
SINGAPORE. A group of more than 160 representatives of civil society organizations from countries in Southeast Asia launched a process of drafting an ASEAN Peoples’ Charter that would challenge the state-initiated ASEAN Charter slated to be adopted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this month.
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Burma Crisis: Symptom of ASEAN's Flaws
SINGAPORE. Prominent human rights activists noted that there are many disturbing parallels between the crises in Burma and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). “ASEAN’s inaction on Burma reflects ASEAN’s institutional weaknesses”, said Debbie Stothard of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma.
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Civil Society Role is Key in Transforming ASEAN
SINGAPORE - A top official of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) stressed the important role of civil society in transforming the regional institution and governance into a “social ASEAN” that embodies social work and community building processes.
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Book on Political Space for Advocacy Now Available!
"Breaking Through: Political Space for Advocacy in Southeast Asia" is now available at the SEACA Secretariat Office. The book is an assessment of the factors affecting the shrinking or expanding of civil society's space for advocacy, and a survey of the way CSOs launch and sustain their advocacies.
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