Asia Europe People's Forum: Copenhagen 2002

• Introduction
• Declaration Asem4people
• People's Security is Not for Sale, by Sven Hansen
• ASEM IV: Disagreements on Iraq, unity in dealing with North-Korea, by Sven Hansen
• A reflection on the Asem4aeople, by Rae Street
• Press Release 20 September 2002
• Press Release 16 September 2002
• TNI Publication: Asia Europe Crosspoints
• Conference Programme
• Background to the Conference Themes
• Calendar of Preparatory Activities
• Berlin, March 2002: Social Policy and the ASEM Process
• Bonn, March 2002: Open Dialogue on a Social Dimension of ASEM
• Berlin, March 2002: AEPF International Organising Committee Meeting

Short backgrounds to the themes

Globalisation for Corporations or for People

The theme of globalisation is the headline of most debates and workshops on economic issues during the Peoples Forum in Copenhagen. It covers a large number of important issues of concern to both Asian and European organisations. Among the developments addressed are:

• The push of the EU at the WTO to get negotiations on an investment liberalisation agreement started;
• Privatisation: European TNC's are increasingly taking over public services in Europe and in Asia.
• The entry into the WTO of Vietnam and China
• Corporate lobbying or corporate rule
• Liberalisation of agricultural trade and production worldwide. What are the implications for food security? Can small farmers in Europe and Asia develop a common agenda?

Peoples Rights under Attack: The costs of September 11

The implications of neo-liberal policies on people coupled with the war on terror will be the main focus of discussion of the ASEM people's thematic forum on Social and Political Rights. Specifically, the forum will examine the social, political, cultural and economic ramifications of neo-liberal policies on people, societies and countries. In addition, it will investigate the further deepening of militarisation in the ASEM region and expansion and of national security laws emanating from the US led global war on terrorism.

Peoples Focus on Security

In 2002, we have seen that the people's social, peace and democratic movements in Asia and Europe are confronting the outbreak of war in Afghanistan, the opening of a 'second front' in the Philippines and the re- occupation of Palestine and the criminalisation of the PLO. Likewise, resistance is growing against the attack on people's rights since September 11. A hunger strike was been launched against the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Malaysia and militant demonstrations greeted Bush's visit to Korea. In Europe, big demonstrations have been mobilised against the "war on terror" and more recently attention is being focussed on the EU's anti-terrorist legislation, introduced in December 2001.Meanwhile governments, especially the governments of Europe and of Asia are actively cooperating to re-carve a new politico-military role for themselves within the paradigm being shaped by the US led coalition against terrorism.

People's Responses and Alternatives

This theme highlights how 2/3 of the world experiences poverty and being outside, and more importantly, how they resist being in the fringes and toeing the margins, and how they struggle to develop a space for themselves. Thus the theme "People's Response and Alternatives". Exchanges of experiences with Danish organisations will be developed and organised with seminars/workshops/forums, public street events like marches, and other creative expressions.

The Burma Initiative

The release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in May by the military government of Burma raised expectations by many in the international community that meaningful negotiations toward a transition to democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights were at hand. Developments in the weeks that followed, however, have been anything but encouraging:
The military junta remains unwilling to engage in talks with the Aung San Suu Kyi or enter tripartite negotiations toward a transition to democracy;

An estimated 1500 political prisoners remain in detention;

The systematic use of forced labour and other human rights violations of the people of Burma continue unabated

It is vital that the international community know the truth about Burma. It is also important that advocacy efforts on behalf of Burma be focused and coordinated at this critical time. The International Burma Summit is being organized to meet these needs.

Workshops on Migrant Rights

Migrants' lives and their conditions of living and working in developed countries have hardly been a major concern despite migrants' contributions to the societies and the economies they find themselves. The harsh conditions imposed by the control of the borders (clandestine situation, and therefore lack of any social protection) are in contradiction to European pretensions to democratic and human rights practices. Public opinion in Europe needs to be alerted more strongly regarding European migration policy because of its continuous drifting away from upholding human rights as a basic concern. There is urgency in acting against the principal concern of states to close down the borders because of the glaring effects of such policy, be it in terms of police violence and racism or of the crisis of asylum rights. The workshops will focus on both European and Asian forms of migration, effects, problems and possible solutions to these problems.

Workshops on Spirituality and Conflict Resolution

Globalisation, as well as the division of "good and evil", is destroying the references of people and creating situations of conflict. Solidarity amongst people is also put to question when groups or populations are branded as terrorists. In some Asian countries the threats to national and regional unity are mounting. In a yet less violent manner, the same tensions are rising in the whole of Europe. Established instances that make justice and order reign are now being overcome and bypassed by the resulting rise of all sorts of religious and ideological fundamentalism. Even the work build by NGOs through the years are threatened.