MGoS Official Session: Perspectives from major groups and other stakeholders:
Partnerships for transformative and urgent actions
12 July 2024, 10:00 – 11:30 AM, Conference Room 4
Intervention delivered by Rey Asis
Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development & Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism
Magandang umaga! Selamat pagi!
To answer the question, I would like to share the example of the Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism, or the APRCEM. The APRCEM is a civil society platform that enables and strengthens cross-constituency coordination and ensures that voices of all subregions in Asia Pacific are heard in regional and global intergovernmental processes. The platform is initiated, owned and driven by CSOs to engage with UN agencies and Member States on the 2030 Agenda and other development related processes.
The APRCEM was borne out of a need to provide an alternative space for CSOs and grassroots who experienced increasing human rights violations and ever shrinking space at the national level; to utilise advocacy spaces to shed light on systemic barriers and the problems of authoritarian rule, patriarchy, religious fundamentalism, corporate capture and oppressive neoliberal policies, to name a few; and to put forward an alternative development framework.
Since its founding, the APRCEM has been a recognised partner of the UN ESCAP in ensuring that CSO and grassroots voices remain alive and present in the Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development; that CSO-led initiatives like the Peoples’ Forum remain independent and are supported through various means; and that the space for engagement remains open and inclusive.
Through our engagement, the APRCEM has: (a) presented to Member States spotlight alternative reports that reflect the actual realities of the people and communities on the ground; (b) called for localisation of the SDGs based on the principles of development justice and recognising the key role of peoples’ and grassroots organizations; (c) highlighted peoples’ actions and solutions to accelerate the Agenda 2030, like collective bargaining agreement of workers for higher wages, indigenous practices of environmental conservation, social and community enterprises, people’s organising and campaigning; and (d) influenced policy-making by advocating development justice to break the systemic barriers to development and address the inequalities of wealth, power and resources between countries, between rich and poor, and between men and women.
Participation is not easy when there is a weak realisation of language justice, there is digital divide, shrinking advocacy space and lack of political will to uphold human rights and freedoms. Migrants, the sector I work with, for example, remain at the fringes of the migration discourse despite them being primary stakeholders, experts in their own rights. Hence, we continue to advocate for meaningful participation of migrants. Given agency and opportunity, migrants can speak for themselves. True enough, through their campaigns, migrants have won higher wages, policies that are migrant-friendly, and a stop to racism, xenophobia and discrimination.
The APRCEM is about meaningful participation and better outcomes of development processes. Participation is both an end and a means. It is an expression of democracy that does not start and end with one’s casting a vote during elections. It is a right and a task we do every day of the year, 24/7.
Cam on. Danyabat. Kapkunkrap! Thank you very much.
