[asia-apec 23] Introduction to the 1996 Manila People's Forum on APEC

[daga]

Introduction

Some 300 delegates from non-government organizations, people's organizations
and social movements across the Asia-Pacific will be converging in Manila in
November. This gathering will be an effort to focus the attention of the
international community-- particularly the member-economies of the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)-- on the need to reflect the people's
concerns for human rights, social equity and environmental sustainability in
the APEC agenda. Dubbed the Manila People's Forum on APEC 1996, the
conference will serve as the parallel process of peoples, communities and
sectors affected by the free trade and economic 
integration agenda embraced by the APEC to the scheduled APEC Leaders'
Summit in the Philippines this year.

APEC in Context

The APEC forum is fast emerging as the overarching institution for  economic
liberalization in the Asia-Pacific region. Among its avowed objectives is to
sustain the exports-and-investment-fuelled growth and development in the
region by strengthening multilateral trading systems and reducing barriers
to trade in goods, services and investments. The APEC agenda is thus no
different from that of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade-Uruguay Round (GATT-UR); in fact, it is  the
stated objective of the APEC to "deepen and broaden" the liberalization
policies spawned by GATT-UR's various agreements, as well as to accelerate
policies' implementation within the Asia-Pacific region.

APEC's 18 members (Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile,  People's
Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico,
Aotearoa-New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Chinese
Taipei, Thailand and the USA) span East Asia, Australasia and the Western
hemisphere, and include the world's fastest growing economies. APEC members
account for about 56% of the world's gross domestic product and 46% of the
world's exports.

The heart of APEC's diplomatic and economic agenda is the creation of a
region- wide, liberalized trade and investment regime. In November 1994 in
Bogor, Indonesia, although not all APEC members were equally enthusiastic,
heads of state agreed to reduce existing trade and investment barriers by
2010 for the developed and 2020 for the developing countries. They also
affirmed their countries' full participation in the WTO and in advancing the
processes and agreements within the GATT-UR.

In Osaka in 1995, APEC foreign ministers discussed an action agenda on ways
to implement the sweeping vision of the Bogor Agreement. This agenda
specifically spurs the APEC's liberalization track. It not only calls on its
member-countries to accelerate the implementation of GATT-UR commitments and
to broaden and deepen the liberalization outcomes of the UR processes; it
also admonished members to "strongly oppose the inward-looking bloc" within
the AsiaPacific region (represented by Malaysia's Mahathir) and urged
non-APEC economies to advance global trade and investment liberalization.
APEC members are expected to present their specific action plans to enflesh
this agenda in the Manila summit in 1996; overall implementation is to begin
in 1997.

Why Engage the APEC?

Although member-governments wish to project the APEC as a means for
"enhancing prosperity and living standards of citizens in the region", many
citizens' groups and NGOs throughout the region worry that APEC's "sweeping
vision" portends massive environmental and social costs rather than an
efficient economic paradise. Economic openness generates new pressures on
the causes of environmental sustainability, labor and migrant rights, and
the struggle for equitable development. With economic interdependence, the
policies and norms of one country become deeply entangled with those of its
trading partners. The scope for unilateral action--especially with regard to
social issues impinged on by economic liberalization--is reduced, even if
economic growth increases.

Much unrest and controversy had already been unleashed during the height of
the GATT debates, particularly among people's movements not only in the
Philippines but also in Korea, Japan and Canada. The basis for the
wide-ranging concem and opposition to the GATT was the projected ill-effects
that its trade liberalization agenda-- the most ambitious and comprehensive
in the world's history-- would bring to the rights and status of already
vulnerable sectors, especially in the developing world. With the APEC aiming
to accelerate, broaden and deepen this liberalization track, the regional
forum has become just as urgent an initiative for progressive groups to
monitor and look into.

It is because of the negative implications that the APEC agenda carries that
some reservations have been raised over making it a target for popular
advocacy or participation. Some groups have held that to address the APEC
forum or to seek to participate in its deliberations is to legitimize an
essentially anti-people initiative. Its furtherance of an economic
liberalization track-- proven to have wrought inestimable social, economic
and ecological displacement-- immediately renders it suspect, and limits the
chances for people's groups to inject any meaningful aspects into APEC's
vision for the region.

Other NGOs and citizens' groups, however, hold a slightly different view. To
their mind, the APEC's lack of transparency and popular participation in its
trade and economic policy deliberations-- discussions that stand to impact
on the lives of millions of workers, consumers, farmers and small
entrepreneurs in the region-- makes it even more urgent for popular
movements to assert their right to intervene in the forum's various
processes. While they harbor no illusions that their efforts can
significantly or immediately transform the APEC into a forum responsive to
the people's needs, they still view it to be an important venue where the
people's concerns can be raised and where specific policy reforms can be
advocated. They identify certain spaces within the APEC and in parallel
international agreements-- few and far between though they may be-- that
NGOs and people's organizations can tap: the Bogor Declaration's
identification of sustainable growth, equitable development and national
stability as the "three pillars of APEC" is one. The international
agreements forged in such fora as Copenhagen (Summit on Social Development,
1995), Vienna (Human Rights, 1993), Rio de Janeiro (Environment, 1992), and
Beijing (Women, 1995) are another. The popular movements can attempt to use
these spaces in their efforts to forward the rights and status of their
communities and constituencies within the APEC. Hopefully, their efforts in
addressing these issues within the APEC will also impact on related concerns
-- GATT, WTO, the IMF-World Bank, and the operations of transnational
corporations across the globe included.

As Lyuba Zarsky of the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable
Development said, "APEC is still a relatively young and flexible
institution. Over the next five years, an opportunity exists to build
people's concerns into APEC's very foundation. In one way or another,
people's issues-the environmental impact of trade liberalization, migrant
and labor rights, etc.-will be on the agenda. The crucial and as yet
unfolding issue is how deep and broad will be the integration of specific
people's advocacies into the APEC agenda."

The role of NGOs, analysts and active people's movements has been-- and will
continue to be-- central in articulating and pressing for these advocacies
within APEC. To be effective, people's movements will have to work across
borders to define their common interests within the region. This is the
rationale for the parallel NGO fora that have been convened on APEC over the
past several years.

Past NGO and People's Initiatives on APEC

The 1996 Manila People's Forum on APEC is the fourth in a series of parallel
processes undertaken by the international NGO community in response to the
challenges posed by the successive APEC summits.

The Northwest office of Friends of the Earth organized a labor, human rights
and environmental coalition to focus on "The Hidden Costs of Free Trade" in
time for the November 1993 APEC meeting in Seattle, Washington. Friends of
the Earth helped publish four issues of ECO-"APEC Watch" for the press and
APEC attendees and issued a letter for the APEC leaders signed by 22
international, national and local NGO groups. During the day of the APEC
Heads of State meeting, a people's APEC rally for Human Rights, Environment
and Labor Fairness took place in downtown Seattle.

During the 1994 APEC Summit of World Leaders held in Bogor, Indonesia,
regional NGOs met to monitor the APEC process as well as to raise such
issues of common concern as social justice, the environment and human
rights. Due to the stringent security measures employed by Suharto during
the APEC summit, the NGOs were severely limited in the range of advocacy
activities they could undertake. Nevertheless, these NGOs were able to issue
policy statements through the media in their effort to focus regional
concern on the liberalization agenda being hammered out at the Bogor summit.

A broader parallel non-government initiative was held in Kyoto, Japan by
over a hundred NGOs from Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Hongkong, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and the United States, in
time for the APEC Leaders' Summit held in Osaka in November, 1995. This
Kyoto NGO Forum on APEC yielded specific resolutions and action points
advocating for the incorporation of people's concerns into the APEC and
arguing against the heedless adoption by APEC member-governments of trade
and investment liberalization regimes that would lead to the displacement of
people, the destruction of the environment, and the transgression of
people's basic rights to food, freedom, and justice.

It was as a result of the 1995 Kyoto NGO Forum on APEC that the Manila
People's Forum on APEC '96 came to light. During the Kyoto conference,
participants agreed to meet again in 1996 for a parallel forum to the APEC
Leaders' Summit that will take place in the Philippines. This time, however,
the Manila Forum would stress the participation of more people's
organizations and citizen's movements alongside the delegation from NGOs and
regional institutions. Moreover, delegations from non-APEC countries with
strong concerns for people's issues in the Asia-Pacific will also be
encouraged to participate.

What to Expect

The Manila People's Forum on APEC '96 is expected to be the broadest
gathering ever of citizen's groups, people's organizations, human rights
advocates and NGOs on the specific issues impinged on by APEC and the global
trend toward ever- increasing trade and investment liberalization. Around
250 to 300 grassroots leaders, people's issue advocates, and NGOs from the
local and international front are expected to attend. This early, some 120
Philippine NGOs and people's organizations have already expressed their
willingness to participate in both the preparations for and the actual
conduct of the people's forum.

The Manila People's Forum on APEC '96 will also attempt to be different from
past fora on the APEC by going beyond the mere discussion of issues related
to trade liberalization. The Forum will seek to forward concrete proposals,
alternatives, paradigms and perspectives drawn from people's experiences
related to the trade and socioeconomic development issues that the APEC and
its underpinning framework touches on. Broadening the focus of the Forum
from mere issue discussion to actually existing people's engagements and
initiatives is expected to further strengthen the spirit of international
solidarity and cooperation throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

A host of issues are expected to surface over the APEC agenda. Initially,
however, five major issue clusters have been identified, which could also
serve as pre-summit regional forum themes for participants to choose from.
These are:

> People's Rights, to include the concerns of indigenous peoples, women,
and other rights abuse victims;

> Labor and Migrant Rights, to center on the concerns of labor and migrant
workers;

> Economic and Social Development, to include the issues of food security,
small and medium entrepreneurs, small farmers and fisherfolk, fair trade,
economic sovereignty in trade and investment,  and cooperatives development;
  
> Ecology and Environment, to focus on the implications of trade and
investment liberalization on the prospects for sustainable, ecologically
sound development; 
  
> Democratization and Governance, to raise the issue of increasing
government transparency and accountability, as well as to push for
increased participation for grassroots groups, NGOs and civil society in
general in the realm of governance and empowerment. 
  
A women's caucus meeting will also be held to ensure that specific  concems
regarding gender issues will be substantially addressed.

Efforts are also underway for pre-summit field visits or fact-finding
missions to various regions of the Philippines so that delegates can have a
clearer picture of how regional trade integration impacts on the lives of
people  and communities at the ground level. Thus, participants concerned
with labor  and migrant rights can visit the CALABARZON region in Southem
Luzon, the  Philippine government's model for NIChood and rapid
industrialization. Those interested in trade liberalization's impact on the
environment and food security  can meet affected communities and visit areas
in the Visayas, while those concerned with the implications of investment
liberalization on land and labor  rights can visit provinces in Mindanao.

After two days of discussion in Manila, the People's Forum will culminate in
an Intemational People's Caravan to the APEC Leaders' Summit in Subic to
present the resolutions of the People's Forum.

Preparatory Activities

Although the Manila People's Forum will be the central activity of people's
organizations and NGOs in response to the APEC Leaders' Summit, other
initiatives will also be held leading up to the forum.

For the NG0 and P0 community in the Philippines tasked with hosting the 1996
parallel APEC forum, just as vital to the entire process of preparing and
hosting the People's Forum is their definition of their own country position
on and agenda for the APEC, and the unification and consolidation of these
positions. Such a process is important not only to ensure a coherent
Philippine P0-NG0 position on the APEC and the liberalization agenda that it
carries; it will also lead to more grounded, energized and motivated
preparations for the forum proper.

The formulation of the Philippine Agenda on the APEC will be undertaken
through various phases. Initially, task forces or clusters have been
convened around the four major themes identified in line with the People's
Forum; these clusters on people's rights, labor and migrant rights, economic
and social development, environment and ecology, and democratization and
governance are meeting regularly to hammer out initial documents and agenda
points that can be used as take-off for discussions on the people's agenda
for the APEC.

Local and regional processes discussing and fleshing out these initial
agenda points will then be held in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The results
of these local processes will then be synthesized and consolidated during
the Philippine P0-NG0 Summit on APEC currently scheduled on July 4-5, 1996.

The present 120 member organizations that make up the Philippine Hosting
Committee (PHC) meets at least once a month. A Steering Committee, composed
of heads and selected members of each Technical Working Group was formed to
oversee the preparations and conduct of the Manila People's Forum. A
Secretariat was also formed. Mr. Horacio Morales of the Philippine Rural
Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) was tasked to chair the PHC, while Ms. June
Rodriguez of the Rural Enlightenment & Accretion in Philippine Society
(REAPS) and Mr. Romeo Royandoyan of the Philippine Peasant Institute (PPI)
were selected to serve as coordinators. Several committees or task forces,
including the Intemational Convenors Committee (ICC) have also been formed
to zero in on the various technical preparations (e.g., venue, invitations
and confirmation of delegates, pre-summit field visits, forum programme
flow, resource mobilization, etc,) needed for this forum.

International and Regional Participation

To ensure maximum participation from among the international delegates, the
Philippine Hosting Committee encourages groups from the various
participating countries to undertake their own preparatory processes prior
to the November Forum.

Organizations in each of the countries intending to participate in the
Manila forum are encouraged to form their own country committees on the APEC
1996 summit. These committees will not only coordinate in-country
preparations for the Manila People's Forum, but are also expected to
consensually draft a country paper on the implications of APEC and/or
economic liberalization on people's rights, labor and migrant rights,
socio-economic development, the environment and ecology, and democratization
and governance.

Country papers should also strive to forward concrete alternatives or define
altemative policies that could be recommended to the APEC Leaders' Summit.
These recommendations could be framed and directed toward the various
committees, working groups and task forces around which the APEC is
organized. These include the Committee on Trade and Investment, Economic
Committee, and Budget and Administrative Committee, all of which are under
the direction of APEC Senior Officials and Ministers; and the working groups
on Human Resources Development (labor sector), Trade and Investment Data,
Energy, Transportation, Telecommunications, Tourism, Fisheries, Marine
Resource Conservation, Trade Promotion, Agricultural Technology, Small and
Medium-scale Enterprises, and, Industrial Science and Technology. Country
committees, however, are free to frame their recommendations in the manner
which they feel will most sufficiently cover the issues they wish to address.

Delegates to the Manila People's Forum are also asked to participate not
only in the forum proper to be held in Manila in November, but also in the
pre-summit regional forum and the field visits and fact-finding missions
that will be held in conjunction with these preliminary fora. Further
details on these pre-summit fora and field visits will be provided as soon
as these are finalized. The hosting committee is also open to suggestions
from international delegates as to specific areas of interest that they may
want to visit or look into more deeply while in the Philippines

Hosting the Manila People's Forum on APEC '96 will necessitate a large
amount of resources that the hosting committee will have to mobilize; the
hosting committee will likely be unable to generate enough funds to shoulder
the travel and preparatory expenses of all participants to the forum.
International delegates and country committees are thus asked to undertake
their own resource mobilization initiatives, not only to allow them to send
delegates to Manila, but also to cover the preparatory processes that they
may decide to go through to finalize their own papers or positions on APEC.

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