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Panel on ASEAN Governance: Is there a Role for Civil Society?
12 October, 2016 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
In 2017 ASEAN will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Progress has been made towards more close-tied regionalism in Southeast Asia and mechanisms for joint governance have become more sophisticated. Presidents and senior ministers of ASEAN member states meet yearly in ASEAN Summits, most recently in Vientiane, (Laos), a rotating Chair system has been established and some regional level institution/consultative bodies have been launched including the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), ASEAN Commission on the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) and ASEAN Committee on Migrant Workers (ACMW).
However, while ASEAN as an inter-governmental institution is keen to collaborate with the business sector and closely engage with it at all levels, its relationship with civil society remains fraught with tensions. Civil society groups have little space to formally interact with ASEAN with the possible exception of the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (ACSC/APF). At the same time civil society groups are struggling to find an effective strategy on how to engage with ASEAN. As an illustration of worsening relation, the last ACSC/APF took place in Dili, Timor Leste instead of in Laos as it would have been customary and the usual ASEAN leaders-CSO interface was dropped at the Vientiane Summit.
At the same time if ASEAN is to realize it promise of becoming a community of people and not only an economic community, recognition and participation of civil society is essential. Questions that arise in this context include: how to carve the space for civil society to become a part of ASEAN processes? What strategies can be tried to foster political will and greater acceptance of civil society groups by governments? How can civil society groups organize to have grater impact on ASEAN decision-making? What kind of structures need to be put in place for civil society engagement to go beyond tokenism?
Provocatively asking if there is a role for civil society in ASEAN governance, the panel will start from the assumption that to realize a people-centered ASEAN as promised in the ASEAN Charter the contribution of civil society groups to regional development cannot be ignored. Panelist will reflect on how ASEAN and civil society groups can address the challenge of a more representative governance system and provide concrete strategies to this aim for the future of ASEAN as a growing institution and of the region as a whole.
Panelists
Moe Thuzar Fellow, Lead Researcher (Socio-Cultural Affairs), ASEAN Studies Centre & Coordinator, Myanmar Studies Programme
Romeo Arca Jr., Assistant Director/Head of the ASEAN Secretariat’s Community Relations Division
Charles Hector, Human Rights Defender and Member of the Malaysian Bar Council
Date and time: 12 October 2016 at 5pm-7pm
Location: SEA Junction
Organizers:
SEA Junction, OUR venue to connect on Southeast Asia (see www.seajunction.org)
Heinrich Böll Stiftung Southeast Asia is the regional office of the German Green Political Party Foundation and conducts and supports civic educational activities in Southeast Asia.
