[asia-apec 271] Declaration: Manila People's Forum on APEC

[daga]

DECLARATION
MANILA PEOPLE'S FORUM ON APEC
November 21-24, 1996

Reaffirming the historic Kyoto Declaration of November, 1995, we have
gathered in Manila as representatives of people's movements, women's
movements, trade unions, non-governmental and religious organizations from
22 nations of Asia, Pacific, the Americas and Europe. In five Pre- Forums we
have studied and developed plans of action related to gender equality,
labour and migrant rights, people's rights and democratization, environment
and ecology, and economic and social development. In each of these events we
prepared recommendations for action and further research related to APEC.
While we recognize the importance  of trade and rules to govern trade, we
are here to oppose the kind of trade represented by the APEC process of
global economic integration in service to a corporate agenda at the expense
of the human rights, dignity and well-being of the peoples of this region.
We are also here to learn from each other and to strengthen our linkages and
solidarity with organizations and movements throughout the APEC region.

APEC '96 has been portrayed by the host government as having injected a
"social face" into the process by the inclusion of elements of civil society
in preparation for this week's meetings. However, the real face of APEC has
been deftly revealed by the refusal of the host Philippine government to
allow Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta and other foreign delegates
entry into the Philippines to participate in this forum, as well as the
repression of any form of protest for the duration of the APEC meetings. It
has also been painfully demonstrated by the demolition of urban poor homes
and the forced removal of hundreds of thousands of poor people from Manila
so that the corporate and political elites attending APEC will not be
disturbed by seeing them.

Hiding the poor will not erase poverty. Nor will refusing entry to a Nobel
Peace laureate bring peace and justice to the people of East Timor. These
acts only amplify the demands and strengthen the resistance of the people of
this region against the wholesale surrender of their sovereignty, their
cultural integrity and the economic well-being to the APEC agenda. The
people are not "human resources" to be minded, exploited and depleted. The
people are the wealth and the future of our nations, whose well-being
defines development and whose participation makes it possible.

Political leaders, following the lead of transnational corporations like
mice following a trail of spilled grain, are pursuing an illusion of a
borderless world in which riches would flow without impediment into their
national cofferes or the accounts of their corporate allies. We call on them
to abandon that fantasy, and wake up to the reality that our legacy, our
dignity, our culture and our natural world are being drained away instead
into the offshore accounts of global robber barons.

We call instead on all the governments participating in the APEC "summit" to
fulfill the democratic mandate to secure justice, preserve the dignity and
advance the economic, social and cultural well-being of all the people, and
protect the natural heritage for our children's children.

In particular, we recommend to the governments of APEC, NGOs and people's
organizations the following considerations and principles for action:

GENDER AND ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATION

In every country, women and the poorest of the poor. Women carry the brunt
of free trade policies which have had a devastating impact on women's
rights. The loss of livelihoods and decreasing control over resources are
increasing women's inequality. We reject economic and social systems which
create and perpetuate the exploitation of women's bodies, and call on
governments to make the eradication of women's poverty a priority. Further,
the unpaid labour of women should be measured and included in satellite
accounts parallel to national accounts as agreed to at the Fourth World
Conference on Women at Beijing in 1995.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

In a global economy dominated by transnational corporations with their
operation in almost every country, the theoretical underpinning of free
trade is no longer tenable. Yet, free trade is still dominant in APEC's
development policy.

Genuine development must be centred on the needs of people and nature, and
deliver real social and economic justice. However, the kind of globalization
being pushed by big business and neo-liberal governments and institutions is
creating an economic and financial framework that widens povery throughout
the APEC region. In both developed and underdeveloped countries, poverty
continues to deepen both in character and magnitude. No longer do most
people of developed countries enjoy the economic and social benefits of
their countries' affluence. Worse, structural adjustment, which is integral
to APEC agenda, dictates severe cuts to social infrastructure, leaving poor
people more vulnerable and intensifying social stratification and
disintegration.

APEC governments are instituting economic, financial and social policies and
programmes that are biased against sustainable and self-sufficient
production in favour of rapid industrialization for export markets. The net
effect is further dispossession of indigenous peoples, heightened rural
poverty and aggravated exploitation of newly urbanized industrial workers.
Women suffer most from these changes, ending up as cheap labour, overseas
migrant workers or prostitutes at the mercy of international traffickers.

Children too are not spared. Child labour and child prosititution are
becoming rampant in many APEC nations. The violation of the rights of the
child, including the right to education and security of person, are also
common in many APEC nations. We call upon all governments, NGOs and people's
organizations and civil society to defend and promote the child's best
interests, as provided for in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

HUMAN AND PEOPLES' RIGHTS

We reaffirm the universality, interrelatedness and interdependence of human
rights as the highest priority of states. The rights of the majority of our
populations continue to be violated. We are already living with the negative
impacts of economic liberalization. In the face of overt human rights
violations spawned by the accelerated economic liberalization policies of
Asia-Pacific and Latin American governments, we call on the peoples of the
region to assert and defend their rights, including the right to basic food
security and livelihood; to independent economic, social, political and
environmental policies and programmes, to self- determination to manage,
protect, develop and defend ancestral domains of indigenous peoples; to
gender equality; and to the rule of law in respect for human rights.

We demand the end of state-supported violence in the name of economic and
financial liberalization, and the incorporation of respect for human and
peoples' rights in the negotiation of trade and economic agreements. We
demand the unconditional release of all political prisoners.

GOVERNANCE AND THE ROLE OF THE STATE

Since its inception, APEC has deliberately conducted its agenda in an
antidemocratic manner without transparency, accountability, or popular
participation. This is symptomatic of the underlying neo-liberal model,
which seeks to transfer power from states to markets. The resulting lack of
democracy is manifested in all levels of the policies and practices of APEC
-- subsuming states to the directives of business advisory bodies,
corporations and international financial institutions.

Among APEC states are some of the most authoritarian governments in the
world. More and more governments, due to pressure from their neighbours or
on their own volition, are undertaking anti-democratic practices. What is
urgently needed now is a strategy to mobilize democratic forces against the
arbitrary powers of state, corporations and policy bureaucracies and their
economic institutions, including APEC.

Governments must put in place rules and mechanisms to regulate and monitor
the conduct of TNCs, particularly with respect to their ecologically
damaging practices and their obligations to their employees with respect to
laws regulating wages, benefits, health and safety and other labour standards.

We demand a highly inclusive level of political participation in the
selection of leaders and policies so that no major social group is excluded.
We demand a level of civil and political liberties -- freedom of expression,
freedom of the press, freedom to form organizations -- sufficient to ensure
the integrity of governance and meaningful participation. We further demand
support for the democractic values associated with community and social
justice which lend substance to a genuine concern with social and economic
rights.

       
LABOUR AND MIGRANT RIGHTS

Global market pressures reinforce and magnify state repression of workers,
or undermine the ability of some governments to protect labour standards.
Globalization also undermines the security of employment, the right to a
living wage, and the ability to organize and bargain collectively. The
resulting pressure on workers to survive leads to the "informalization" of
the workforce. Informalization is turning workers, in both the formal and
informal sectors, into an even cheaper, more docile, exploited and
un-unionized labour force, and impacts particularly on women. It forces
families to resort to sending their children to work, and some women to
engage in prostitution to survive.

Globalization intensifies migration, and also has a particularly negative
impact on women. The exploitative system of migrant labour recruitment,
often operating outside state regulation, must be addressed by governments.
Special attention must be given to the rampant and brutal abuses associated
with the feminization of migration, and the violation of the human rights of
both documented and undocumented migrant workers.

Governments must respect, improve and enforce national labour laws, which
are consistent with internationally recognized basic labour rights, and
refrain from involving military or police in labour disputes to intimidate
workers, or as corporate scabs. We insist that each government develop and
maintain workplace health and safety laws and that failure to provide, or
continually lowering, workplace safety standards no longer be used to entice
or retain investment.

We demand the repeal of anti-migrant laws and policies in both sending and
receiving countries. These measures must include the regularization of all
undocumented workers. Governments should advance the welfare and protection
of migrant workers by ratifying the UN Convention for the Protection of the
Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and through
bilateral agreements with receiving countries.

ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

The experience of Chile and Taiwan demonstrates that liberalized trade and
investment will further accelerate environmental degradation. Exploitation
of natural resources for export resulting in deforestation, depletion of
fish stocks, destruction of coral reefs and mangrove forests,
desertification and loss of control by communities and indigenous peoples
over their ancestral doman (land, air, water, skills and knowledge) are what
we have already witnessed. Continuing to rely on non-renewable, polluting
energy sources to fuel the demands of industrialization causes irreversible
damage to ecosystems and human health, and robs future generations of a
resource base for their survival. The dumping of toxic waste, export of
hazardous materials, and migration of dirty technology to developing
countries leads to environmental catastrophe, with terrible consequences for
human health.

To prevent thse devastating effects, we bind ourselves to the principles of
ecologically and sustainable social development that is people-oriented and
environment based, protects biodiversity, and places a premium on preserving
women's livelihoods, people's participation, and improved quality of life.
We reject any slogan of "sustainable development" which fails to include
these elements.

We call for the support and strengthening of people's movements, especially
farmers and fisherfolks, who are resisting injustice and encroachment to
their lands and livelihoods by transnational corporations and so-called
development programmes.

ONWARD TO VANCOUVER

We are confident that the struggles of people throughout Asia, Pacific and
the Americas to expose the false promises of APEC have succeeded in
challenging the narrow interests that are driving this process. We have
grown in numbers and understanding, in mobilization and strength during the
past three years of popular activity. We have established an ambitious
programme of research and mobilization to prepare for the next phase of our
work in developing liveable and sustainable alternatives to market-driven
globalization based on the principles of democracy, equality and social
justice. We will meet next year in Vancouver to continue this effort. During
the next year, our work will focus on the role of the state, the
environment, and an alternative economic agenda.

Action proposals from the Pre-Forums and the People's Forum are appended to
provide guidance for this work.