Bangkok, Thailand, 26 February 2025 – Over 140 civil society representatives met in Bangkok, Thailand from 23-24 February 2025 in the Asia Pacific Peoples’ Forum on Sustainable Development (Peoples’ Forum) adopting the Civil Society Collective Statement titled “Reclaiming the Development Agenda for the People, Advancing Development Justice in Asia and the Pacific.” The Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM) is currently participating and delivering critical recommendations at the 12th Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) highlighting the crucial role, and contributions of civil society.
Today, the APRCEM also led a silent action inside the United Nations Conference Center raising calls 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. In a recent incident, a side-event being organised by APWLD, OHCHR, ILO and APRCEM was instructed by some member states to be cancelled because of the use of human rights language in the event title. The side-event aimed to launch APWLD’s regional report that presents evidence on the 10 years of SDG implementation in Asia and the Pacific, linking it to human rights obligations.
APRCEM continues to be a key actor in facilitating civil society engagement in the development agenda at the regional and global level. Its relationship with UN ESCAP has created ripples and inspired many other regions to create their own regional civil society engagement mechanisms and enable meaningful participation. If this space is threatened, it raises the alarm for civil society and peoples’ organisations’ democratic participation in these multilateral spaces.
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 included in multilateral spaces and meaningfully engage – free from any censorship, discrimination or violence.
In the context of multiple and worsening crises, governments of the world must listen to their people – the grassroots and marginalised – in line with the whole-of-society approach. 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.
Change the System! Shift the Power! Development Justice Now!
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)
