Project websites

Asia-Europe Peoples Forum (AEPF)

The Asia-Europe People's Forum (AEPF) was created in 1996 by a range of civil society organisations and NGOs from Europe and Asia in order to monitor the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) that was established that same year.

The AEPF is a forum for NGOs and civil society groups that are non-state and non-corporate. It aims to bring the voice of the civil society in the official Asia Europe Summit, ASEM, and to create alternatives to its neoliberal agenda.
Since its creation the Asia Europe People's Forum (AEPF) has organised meetings parallel to ASEM with the aim of making the ASEM process more accountable, transparent and open to civil society. AEPF has pushed for ASEM to thoroughly combine economic integration with political, social and cultural issues. It has tackled, furthermore, more general concerns such as social justice, civic participation and democracy, human rights, gender equality, poverty eradication and the environment. Together with these aims the AEPF has the strategic purpose of raising awareness about ASEAN policies among the peoples of Asia and Europe; AEPF helps increase the transnational solidarity and interaction between non-governmental organisations and social movements.

www.aepf.net

Europe-Latin America and the Caribbean Bi-regional Network Enlazando Alternativas

The Europe-Latin America and Caribbean bi-regional network “Enlazando Alternativas” (Linking Alternatives) was formed as a result of a growing awareness that the neoliberal policies and trade agenda of the European Union (EU) is being led by powerful transnational corporations and that the EU’s objective is to ensure its countries unrestricted access to Latin American and Caribbean markets. The formation of this bi-regional network also reflects the need for Latin American and European civil societies to increase resistance to the “European project”, to the transnational companies (TNCs) based in the European Union and to international ‘free’ trade policies.

The network formally began in Guadalajara, during the meeting, ‘Enlazando Alternativas”, organized in parallel to the Third Summit of Heads of State and Governments of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union in May 2004.

The network has opened a political space for joint action and reflection where social movements, NGOs, trade unions, human rights organisations, farmers, ecological and indigenous movements, migrant and refugee groups, as well as men and women in general from both continents, can become involved.

Enlazando Alternativas network organise Social Encounters in parallel to the official Head of State and Government from Europe-Latin America and the Caribbean Summits held every 2 years.

www.enlazandoalternativas.org

People’s Dialogue project

The Peoples' Dialogue on Alternative Regionalisms is strongly committed to analysis and action to achieve change and to strengthen peoples' participation in proposing and promoting alternative regional development strategies. This Peoples' Dialogue has two inter-related components: a South-South and a South-North Peoples' Dialogue. The South-South Peoples' Dialogue process aims to build on and strengthen work being initiated on regional development strategies and alternatives - within regions (Mercosur, SADC, ASEAN) and at cross-regional level (Latin America-Africa-Asia). The South-North Peoples' Dialogues gives particular focus to EU's policy towards the South (Latin America, Africa, Asia) and seeks to develop bi-regional networks challenging this policy and campaigning on alternatives.

www.peoplesdialogue.org

Water Justice

Waterjustice.org was born at the fourth World Social Forum (Mumbai, January 2004). Inspired by seminars on alternatives to water privatisation and how to finance public water, groups from around the world committed to intensify their co-operation on these key issues. One of the decisions was to develop waterjustice.org into a virtual resource centre and meeting place for exchanging experiences, debate and strategise.

www.waterjustice.org

Project "Trade – Development - Human Rights II"

A cooperation-project of the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation (Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico, Brussels, Warsaw), the Transnational Institute (Amsterdam), FASE (Rio de Janeiro), Justiça Global (Rio de Janeiro), REDES (Montevideo), FOCO (Buenos Aires), KoBra (Freiburg) and the FDCL (Berlin).
The main objective of this project is to raise awareness among the European public together with our Latin American partners for sustainability and human rights as cross-sector tasks for all areas of politics and economics in the relations between EU and MERCOSUR.
Besides the issues of sustainability and human rights this also includes the promotion of broad and sustainable transnational network structures among civil society as well as the promotion of effective civil society participation within the EU-MERCOSUR relations.

www.handel-entwicklung-menschenrechte.org