General AEBF information - 6 August 2006

General AEBF information - 6 August 2006

The Asia Europe People's Forum (AEPF) will be held on 3-6 September 2006 in Helsinki, Finland. It is the sixth civil society forum to be held in parallel to the biannual Asia Europe Summit (ASEM), which brings together the leaders of 38 Asian and European countries and the European Commission.

The AEPF is a forum for non-state and non-corporate NGOs and civil society groups. It aims to bring the voice of the civil society to the official ASEM summit, and advance alternatives to its neoliberal agenda.

The AEPF was created in1996 and has held forums every second year parallel to the ASEM summit. Helsinki plays host to the sixth People's Forum. It has previously met in Bangkok (1996), London (1998), Seoul (2000), Copenhagen (2002) and Hanoi (2004).

AEPF6 will be attended by 450 participants representing roughly 200 NGOs from the two regions.

The AEPF6 programme is organised around three main themes:

• Peace and Security
• Economic Security and Social Rights
• Democracy and Human Rights

Plenary speakers will include Susan George (writer and fellow of Transnational Institute, Netherlands), Fracisco Nemenzo (chair, Laban ng Masa/Struggle of the People Coalition, Philippines), Sirpa Pietikainen (president, Finnish UN Association, Finland), Surin Pitsuwan (member, World Commission on Social Dimension of Globalisation, Thailand) and Achin Vanaik (professor, Delhi University, India).

The full programme includes three days of workshops covering national, regional and global issues including environmental security; the militarisation of aid; debt; EU-Asia Free Trade Agreements; alternatives to privatisation; social movements and political parties; land rights, forests and food security; conflict resolution; human trafficking; participatory democracy; indigenous and minority rights; peace strategies; labour and social justice.

Further details and workshop "concept papers" are available at www.aepf.net

Press

AEPF6 takes place at the Paasitorni Conference Center, Helsinki, Finland.

To request press accreditation please email salla.nazarenko @ kepa.fi with your contact information and publication details and the AEPF secretariat will get in touch.

Press inquiries and interview requests should be directed to
Salla Nazarenko
salla.nazarenko@kepa.fi
+358 45 111 7321

Organisation and contacts

The AEPF is organised by an International Organising Committee and a Finnish National Organising Committee. A full list of members of these committees can be found at: www.aepf.net/about-aepf/organisation