Bangkok, Thailand – The Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network (APIYN) joined the 92 Civil Society Organizations (CSO’s) from 21 countries all over the Asia and the Pacific region that gathered in Bangkok, Thailand from 23-24 August 2013. This conference offered a venue for different CSO’s and major groups to discuss the peoples’ demands on a genuine sustainable development that they look forward to be accommodated in the United Nations Post 2015 development agenda.
Renowned civil society groups and networks worldwide organized this relevant consultation entitled “ASIA-PACIFIC CIVIL SOCIETY CONSULTATION on a Just and Transformative Post-2015 Development Framework”. The organizers include the Campaign for People’s Goals for Sustainable Development (CPGSD), UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Asia-Pacific Research Network (APRN), IBON International and the Asia Development Alliance (ADA).
It is a big responsibility but great opportunity for APIYN to represent and deliver the key messages on Post 2015 development agenda in behalf of the children and youth, one of the 9 major groups in the conference. At the end of the 2 day conference, the participants crafted a declaration based from the perspectives and situations of their own organizations, communities and countries. Mr. Jiten Yumnam, member of the Advisory Council of APIYN and the Centre for Research and Advocacy Manipur, was part of the drafting committee of the declaration.
In her presentation during the Major Groups and Stakeholders responses to the Open Working Group, High Level Plenary Forum and the Millennium Goals Governance, Ms. Marifel Macalanda of the APIYN’s secretariat, said that “as early as now, the youth should be educated and be involved in crafting the Post 2015 development agenda, for them to be more critical on the outcome of the agenda and not to be used by the multinational corporations (MNC’s) and the capitalist societies. They should learn from the lessons of the MDGs and have a deeper understanding on the Post 2015 and sustainable development goals for them to be better and effective leaders of the society. She also presented recommendations of the youth on Post 2015 development agenda from the declaration formulated by indigenous youth at the Weaving Perspectives conference last April 2013, from the Kari-Oca 2 declaration and APIYN’s critic on the Zero Draft of the Rio+20.
The results of the panel presentations, round table discussions and workshops of the 2 day CSO consultation, culminated in the formulation of a just and transformative development agenda towards post-2015 and beyond. In the declaration, the participants challenged the states to commit to a model of Development Justice which is framed by five foundational shifts namely: Redistributive Justice, Economic Justice, Social Justice, Environmental Justice and Accountability to Peoples. These five key themes consolidated the various issues confronting the different civil society groups, their communities, countries and peoples.
The declaration was then presented to the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Dialogue conducted from 26-27 August. This dialogue, dubbed as “Asia-Pacific Ministerial Dialogue: From the Millennium Development Goals to the United Nations Development Agenda beyond 2015” was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand in collaboration with UN ESCAP. This was attended by state representatives from Asia and the Pacific region. The CSO’s and major groups, including APIYN, maximized this dialogue for the people’s goals on sustainable development to be recognized by the states.
Some of the major groups such the Indigenous Peoples and NGO were able to deliver their statements during the round table discussion of the ministerial dialogue. Due to limited time given to major groups, the statement of the children and youth major group, represented by APIYN, was not delivered in the dialogue, however, this was submitted to Ambassador Kamal, the co-chair of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, to some of the representatives of the states and to the UN ESCAP. Ms. Macalanda was able to deliver this statement during the dialogue of the CSO’s with some UN agencies on 28 August.
At the last session of the ministerial dialogue, the United States of America dissociated itself from the Asia-Pacific Post 2015 process and stated that USA will not support the declaration formed from the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Dialogue. The civil society organizations and major groups who followed the discussions and process at the ministerial dialogue welcomed this statement of the United States. There was no clear reasons as to why USA gave this statement during the adoption of the declaration but the member states in the region, as stated in their draft declaration, recognize the inequalities between the developed countries and the least developed and developing countries. They also called for the need to “strengthen the multi-lateral trading regime that is fair, just and open, advance trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, remove trade and investment barriers and oppose and resist all forms of protectionism”.
The participating CSO’s and major groups on the other hand, were disappointed on the results of the draft declaration. There was no room for them to be able to give their comments on the draft before it was adopted by the states. In the declaration, the concrete recommendations from the results of the CSO’s consultation on a just and transformative development agenda were not included. For them, the process in drafting the declaration for the region was not inclusive. In consensus, the CSO’s and major groups stated that they will not be daunted by this result, instead, they will collectively push forward the people’s goals on a genuine sustainable development at all levels. They committed to engage and lobby their states at the national level and actively monitor, lobby and participate even at the global level until the voices and perspectives of the people from the communities and grassroots are recognized.
As a symbolic action, before the adoption of the declaration of the ministerial dialogue, the CSO’s and major groups participating in the dialogue, conducted a photo ops in front of the United Nations Conference Center in Bangkok with a banner “Development for Whom?”. This action symbolizes the demands of the people in achieving development justice and an act of calling on the states to listen to these demands if we wanted to achieve a just and transformative development agenda for the people. #
