Social Watch Asia Regional Meeting in Cambodia
Published on Fri, 2005-05-13 12:16
The Social Watch Asia Regional Meeting was held in Siem Reap, Cambodia from March 30 to April 1st 2005. ANGKOR WAT DECLARATION Introduction We are representatives of Social Watch from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Tanzania. We have come together for three days, from March 30 to April 1, 2005, in the city of Siem Reap, Cambodia, site of the world heritage Angkor Wat, to share experiences in monitoring the implementation of commitments pledged by Asian governments in 1995 (Copenhagen Social Summit and Beijing Women Conference) and in the Millennium Summit five years ago. More importantly, we have come to this Social Watch Asia Regional Meeting to discuss how best to address new challenges confronting our region, build solidarity and renew our commitment to pursue social justice and sustainable development. As governments account for what they had promised to deliver we as social watchers must contend with the stark reality that our region remains home to two-thirds of the world’s poor— more than half of them women--- whose deprivation and vulnerability were further underscored in the recent tsunami tragedy. There is no justification why these millions of poor must continue to be deprived of their right to be secure in food, shelter, education, health, in their individual choices and pursuit of happiness. We are deeply disturbed by rosy reports coming from official quarters (governments, intergovernmental bodies and multilateral institutions, eg UNESCAP, UNDP, WB, ADB) as to the progress made in poverty reduction in our region. While we recognize that millions have been lifted out of poverty in some countries in our region, we also see major reversals and so much unfairness and injustice around the region. We are witness to how open market policies are driving this fast-growing region and changing lifestyles but also simultaneously reducing and reproducing poverty and inequality at all levels in different countries. We also realize that these same policies have led to further exploitation of already much-depleted natural resources and to more rapid increases in CO2 emission levels. The conventional development model that Asia is pursuing does not promise an end to poverty and exclusion. We believe that the MDG are minimum benchmarks of a broader set of entitlements enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We note with concern that even after engaging the MDG as a platform to promote social justice, peace and democracy five years ago, too many governments in Asia continue to be unaware and unmindful of their accountabilities in fulfilling their obligations. The Social Watch Asia Coalition demands that the UN as well as signatory countries should:
On the issue of debt, aid and trade Asia is host to some of the world’s poorest and heavily indebted countries like Indonesia, Philippines, Nepal and Bangladesh where a substantial portion of their national budget goes to debt servicing, a lot more is lost to corruption, and very little, if any, is left to finance spending for social services. The spate of natural disasters that has stricken Indonesia and other Asian countries, combined with a constricting fiscal space, strengthens and justifies the call for the cancellation of bilateral and foreign commercial debts and the provision of more resources through untied aid. The continued pressure on developing countries to liberalize trade with unfair trade rules being used to the hilt by developed countries have aggravated the food and job insecurity of developing countries. We therefore call upon governments of developed countries to:
We further call upon governments of developed countries and those of emerging economies to:
On the issue of environment Recognising that growth-driven development and liberalization policy adopted by governments aiming to achieve fast and high growth rate have an adverse impact on the environment, we call on all governments:
On the issue of peace and security With regards peace and security we have identified a number of issues that need serious attention and action. Gross human rights violation is one of the major hurdles to achieving peace and security in the region. In order to change such unacceptable conditions we call for greater attention to the following:
Conclusion Making good on commitments to social development, gender equality, and the Millennium Development Goals are less about meeting targets but more about honoring human rights obligations. They are either being respected here and now or they are being violated. Alongside our allies in the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (G-CAP), Social Watch Asia therefore demands governments to create all the necessary conditions for the full enjoyment of human rights by all citizens NOW. Tags: |
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