FUTURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY IN ASIA EVELYN BALAIS SERRANO Executive Director FORUM-ASIA

OUTLINE FUTURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY – PROCESS REFLECTION ON THE PAST DECADES – KEY MOMENTS AND MILESTONES EMERGING CHALLENGES OPPORTUNITIES SOME LESSONS LEARNED

PROCESS As part of FORUM-ASIA’s commemoration of 25 th Anniversary having been founded in 1991 A joint initiative with Asia Democracy Network (ADN) to develop an Asian Compact for Human Rights and Democracy which is expected to be adopted in 2018 at the 70 th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

AIMS To reflect on past decades on some of the key moments/milestones in our human rights and democracy struggles To identify emerging challenges and come up with a collective vision on human rights and democracy and explore more effective ways to create synergetic impact of the civil society movement in the future

KEY MOMENTS/MILESTONES First multi-party, free and fair elections held 1990-Burma -Mongolia 1991-Bangladesh Nepal Malaysia

Asia’s voice highlighted in world fora 1993-Vienna - World Conference on Human Rights 1995-Beijing – 4 th World Conference on Women 1996-Copenhagen- World Summit on Social Development 1998-Paris - World Summit of Human Rights Defenders Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 2015 – UN Climate Change Conference

CSO Parallel Initiatives 1993-Bangkok NGO Human Rights Declaration st Peoples’ SAARC st ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC) held in Malaysia 2006-Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy (SAPA) 2007-Working Group on Regional Initiative for South Asia Human Rights Mechanism (RI-SAHRM) FORUM-ASIA Geneva and Jakarta offices were opened to raise Asian voice vis-à-vis UN and ASEAN 2015 –FORUM-ASIA Kathmandu office vis-à-vis SAARC

Creation of Human Rights Offices and Mechanisms 1993-UN Office of High Commissioner on Human Rights 1993 – UN Guidelines on NHRIs (Paris Principles) 2006-Universal Periodic Review (UPR) ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights 2010 – ASEAN Commission on Women and Children 2012-ASEAN Human Rights Declaration

MAJOR HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATIONS/CASES 2002-Gujarat carnage-India 2004-Murder of Munir-Indonesia -Disappearance of Somchai Neelapaijit- Thailand 2009-Murder of Pattani Razeek-Sri Lanka 2010-Violent crackdown of demonstrators in Thailand 2009-Maguindanao Massacre in Mindanao-Philippines 2012-Disappearance of Sombath Somphone-Laos 2015-Rohingya crisis

End of conflicts 1999 – Independence vote in Timor Leste Aceh – Indonesia 2010 –Political reforms in Burma Bangsa Moro, Mindanao, Philippines

EMERGING CHALLENGES Shrinking civic space, persecution of HRDs Migration, Human Trafficking, Refugees Economic, social and cultural rights -inequality, poverty, land grabbing -role of business -rise of religious/intolerance Climate change/climate justice Ending impunity, accountability War, armed conflicts Death penalty

OPPORTUNITIES Increase in people’s participation/initiatives Increased interest and use of social media Establishment of NHRIs and other human rights mechanisms Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Participation of youth, women, SOGIE, PWD, indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups Increase in human rights awareness among various sectors of society, including police and military

SOME LESSONS LEARNED Need to strengthen links from grassroots to national, regional, global and back to local Need to engage with all stakeholders, including business, judiciaries, parliaments, donors Need to involve the youth, women and other marginalized sectors in society Need for regional/international solidarity Power of coalitions/people movement