For immediate release
26 February 2025

 

CONTACTS:

Ajay Jha Kumar, APRCEM Co-chair (k.ajay.j@gmail.com)
Joy Hernandez, APRCEM Co-chair (joy@ituc-ap.org)
Olga Djanaeva, APRCEM Co-chair (ngoalga@gmail.com) 


Bangkok, Thailand, 26 February 2025 – More than 100 activists led by the Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM) held a silent action inside the United Nations (UN) Conference Center in Bangkok protesting against shrinking civic spaces and censorship in the UN process. 


The APRCEM is currently participating and delivering critical recommendations based on the people’s demands at the 12th Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) attended by government ministers of Asia and the Pacific being held from 25-28 February. Their statements highlight the importance, key roles, and contributions of civil society towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  The UN Economic and Social Commission in Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) organizes the APFSD each year.

“We call out against shrinking civic spaces, censorship and reprisals at regional and global levels, and even harassment and threats to human rights defenders at the local and national levels,” said APRCEM in a statement.

The APRCEM reported an incident late last week when some member states ordered the cancellation of a side-event on SDGs and human rights, being organised by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), International Labour Organization (ILO) and APRCEM. The APWLD was supposed to launch its regional report that presents evidence on the 10 years of SDG implementation in Asia and the Pacific, and linking it to human rights obligations.

“If this space is threatened, this raises the alarm for civil society and peoples’ organisations for their democratic participation in these multilateral spaces,” the APRCEM said.

The side event was originally scheduled for February 28 at the UNCC.

“We remind the member states that the UN Charter starts with ‘We, the People…’ thus it is imperative for civil society and peoples’ organisations to claim the space in decision-making. We urge the member states to respect, protect and fulfil our rights to be in multilateral spaces and meaningfully engage—free from any censorship, discrimination or violence,” APRCEM said.

The APRCEM held the Asia Pacific Peoples’ Forum on Sustainable Development (Peoples’ Forum) with over 140 civil society representatives in attendance in Bangkok from 23-24 February 2025 just ahead of the 12th APFSD. The groups adopted the Civil Society Collective Statement entitled “Reclaiming the Development Agenda for the People, Advancing Development Justice in Asia and the Pacific” at the Peoples’ Forum.

The APRCEM facilitates civil society engagement in the development agenda. Its relationship with UN ESCAP has created ripples and has inspired other regions to create their own regional civil society engagement mechanisms to enable meaningful participation of the marginalized.

“In this context of multiple and worsening crises, the world needs to listen to its people –the grassroots and marginalised. The people are the key to genuine sustainable development, and solutions can only be made with democratic deliberations. Such genuine transformations can only be achieved through recognising systemic barriers and how it undermines the peoples’ right to development,” the APRCEM added. 

Change the System! Shift the Power! Development Justice Now!

####