ngaging ASEAN

1. e ngaging ASEAN Some reflections from the Women’s Caucus

2. Outline • The Women’s Caucus • In Engaging ASEAN • Key Activities • Challenges • Lessons Learned

3. The Women’s Caucus • Formed in 2008, ASEAN Human Rights Body meetings on the then ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights (ADHR • Absence of women’s network, following the approval of the ASEAN Charter • Initially convened by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) and International Women’s Rights-Action Watch (IWRAW-AP)

4. The Women’s Caucus • Key areas of work: • Violence against women • Discriminatory laws and practices • Migration • Economic participation • Political participation • Leadership structure – Mentoring system • Past, Present, Future Chairs of ASEAN plus APWLD and IWRAW-AP • Linkage between national and regional • Membership • Over 60 organizations in 11 countries, including East Timor • Engages ASEAN bodies – AICHR, ACWC and ACMW

5. In Engaging ASEAN… • ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) • ROPs, Work Plan and thematic studies • Dialogue • ASEAN Human Rights Declaration • ASEAN Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Women and Children (ACWC) • ROPs, Work Plan • CSO Institutionalization • Internal strengthening • Collaborating with broader civil society

6. In Engaging ASEAN… • Building up on internal resources – members as resource persons themselves, with their own expertise on different issues • Strengthening community ownership • Strong information – gathering and sharing • National consultations – focal organizations • Coordinating group – national and regional • Regular consultation – online and face to face • Capacity-building – emphasis on CLMV and Brunei and young women and new faces

7. In Engaging ASEAN… • Clear communications – Emphasis on formal communications • In a still largely adhoc environment • Building relationships – Emphasis on formal means • ASEAN Secretariat and national representatives • Content/ submissions • Communications • Prepared for backlash

8. In Engaging ASEAN… • Content/ Position • Sources recognized by ASEAN • Ex. For AHRD – national laws, ASEAN declarations, regional and int’l HR mechanisms • Existing expertise within the Caucus • Ensuring consultation within the membership • Coordination with other civil society groups • Identifying and pursuing common positions • Ex. Women’s Caucus and child rights groups on ACWC • “Claiming” spaces

9. Key Activities: AICHR • Submission on the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration • 1st and 2nd Addenda • Were acknowledged • Relatively good response from a few AICHR reps • Some inputs were taken, some were not • Informal meeting with a few AICHR reps • Capacity-building opportunity: APWLD – Informal meeting between ASEAN representatives and UN Independent Expert on Cultural Rights

10. Key Activities: AICHR • Submission on the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration – October 2011 • 3. Everyone has the right to access the public sphere, social protection measures, financial resources, information and technologies on the basis of justiciable, fair and equal access. • c. Everyone has the right to access social protec-tion services such as affordable and effective health care, including sexual and reproductive health, adequate and affordable housing and education be it formal, informal and traditional.

11. Key Activities: AICHR • Submission on the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration – October 2011 • 14. Every individual and community has the right to self determination. • a. Every individual is free to decide over one’s identities, body such as the exercise of one’s exercise of one’s sexual and reproductive rights, relationships, mobility and future.

12. Key Activities: AICHR • 1st and 2nd Addenda • Due diligence and state obligation • Non-derogation and Non-retrogression of Human Rights • Duties and Limitation of Human Rights • “PUBLIC MORALITY” • Women as “Marginalized” rather than “Vulnerable” Group • Right to citizenship (beyond nationality) • Refugees, undocumented migrants, asylum seekers • Responsibilities of labor-receiving countries

13. Key Activities: AICHR • 1st and 2nd Addenda • Sexual orientation and gender identity • Right to found a family and family as a social unit • Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights • Rights related to work and maternity • Access to Justice • Right to Development • PUBLIC MORALITY

14. Key Campaign: Public Morality

15. Key Activities: ACWC • Submission on ACWC’s ROP and Work Plan • Was acknowledged • Relatively good response from a few ACWC reps • Some inputs were taken (e.g. CSO participation) • Major downside – Migration excluded in the work plan • Participation in the Informal Dialogues with ACWC – February and September 2011 • Participation in the Formal Dialogue with ACWC – January 2012 • Participation in the 2nd Formal Dialogue with ACWC – July 2012 - APWLD – playing a coordination role in the CSO-ACWC dialogue

16. Key Activities: ACWC • Submission on Due Diligence and VAW (Jan2012) • Good and bad practices – prevention, protection, punishment and reparations • Towards a “Convention on VAW” • Letter (Jan2012) • Inquiry on VAW  women domestic workers • Interpreting its mandate more boldly • Participation in the Task Forces • Mapping of regional resource persons • Institutionalization of CSO participation • Clear processes and definition

17. Key Activities: ACWC • Declaration on VAW and VAC • VAWC – VAW and VAC • Rights vs. “corporate social responsibility” • Due diligence – all the four areas, including reparations • Harmonization of national laws • Harmonization with international human rights standards – CEDAW and CRC • Civil society participation • Work Plans

18. Challenges • Different understanding of women’s human rights by different ASEAN bodies and representatives • ASEAN – despite CEDAW and CRC - Reservations • Strong resistance against SOGI and the S and R of SRHR • Heteronormative, welfare approach • Resurgence of fundamentalisms • “Particularities,” making HR conditional • Civil society • General public

19. Challenges • Uneven interest in ASEAN • Slow pace of opening up/ confidence building • Ignorance? • Political limitations esp. in CMLV and Brunei • Dynamics within ASEAN

20. Challenges • CSO participation is not institutionalized • What are the entry points? • Confidence-building - adhoc and personal • Struggles within civil society • Varying civil society cultures – including language • Women being relegated to “women’s issues” • Challenges in sharing spaces – HR and WHR • National – regional – international • Who is civil society? • Capacity and Resources, i.e. emerging patterns of funding

21. Lessons Learned • National as the key arena of struggle • Creatively pursuing and interpreting CEDAW and CRC • Need for non-threatening dialogue but an effective and institutionalized mechanism for engagement, including capacity-building • How to introduce cultural rights viz. individual rights, SOGI etc? • How can individuals and groups with security issues go to ASEAN without going through formal channels (ex. National govt) that are not safe?

22. Lessons Learned • Developing allies from within • Flexibility in defining civil society • Ensuring inclusivity, esp . In countries where there is no CSO culture as we know it • Keeping, expanding and diversifying the spaces for women and girls • Capacity building • Women’s Leadership

23. THANK YOU! womenscaucusonasean.wordpress.com facebook.com/seawomenscaucus