"Representatives from Asean's civil society walked out in protest of Friday's informal meeting with the government leaders after their colleagues were not allowed to attend. The "interface" meeting continued as planned around noon at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Phetchaburi's Cha-am district. The Asean leaders met with the civil society people approved by the authorities.
Asean People Forum activists from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Singapore were not allowed to attend the meeting with the government leaders. One of them said they were not given any reasons for being rejected."This is really disappointing ... completely contradictory to what they say and do," said Khin Ohmar from Burma, one of the five from the people's forum who were not allowed to attend the meeting.
She said if the governments do not want this kind of engagement with the civil society, they should not have signed and ratified the Asean Charter in the first place. The charter, effective from last December, promotes more civil society participation in the people-oriented regional community."
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/10/23...al_30115096.php
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NGO's walk out of ASEAN meeting in protest
Started by Harold, Oct 23 2009 03:46 PM
2 replies to this topic
#2
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Posted 24 October 2009 - 09:21 AM
Asean's civil-society activists yesterday strongly condemned Asean governments for mistreatment of their representatives.They accused the governments of poor treatment and disrespect by rejecting five of their 10 representatives from an informal meeting with the leaders and "gagging" five others who were allowed to attend.
Three of those allowed to attend - Sawart Pramoonsilp from Thailand, Yuyun Wahyuningrum from Indonesia and Moon Hui Tah from Malaysia - walked out of the "interface" meeting in protest to show solidarity with their colleagues from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Singapore who could not attend.
"We feel strongly that the rejection of our democratically selected representatives is a rejection of both civil society and the democratic process," the group said in a statement released yesterday.
The activists were informed by the Foreign Ministry shortly before midnight on Thursday that the five would not be allowed at the meeting, according to the statement. Those who could attend were told to be ready to be picked up at 7am yesterday, nearly five hours before the scheduled meeting around noon.
The civil-society groups said the latest move by certain governments of Asean was "fundamentally undermining the spirit and content" of the Asean Charter that was approved and became effective since last December. The charter promotes the idea of a people-centred Asean."
Three of those allowed to attend - Sawart Pramoonsilp from Thailand, Yuyun Wahyuningrum from Indonesia and Moon Hui Tah from Malaysia - walked out of the "interface" meeting in protest to show solidarity with their colleagues from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Singapore who could not attend.
"We feel strongly that the rejection of our democratically selected representatives is a rejection of both civil society and the democratic process," the group said in a statement released yesterday.
The activists were informed by the Foreign Ministry shortly before midnight on Thursday that the five would not be allowed at the meeting, according to the statement. Those who could attend were told to be ready to be picked up at 7am yesterday, nearly five hours before the scheduled meeting around noon.
The civil-society groups said the latest move by certain governments of Asean was "fundamentally undermining the spirit and content" of the Asean Charter that was approved and became effective since last December. The charter promotes the idea of a people-centred Asean."
#3
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Posted 25 October 2009 - 08:34 AM
Interesting that the Thai civil society representative walked out. Seems Khun Sawart has some cojones, since this could reflect negatively on the host country, Thailand.
