Press Release
April 20, 2009

Civil society organizations participating in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Development Conference being hosted by the Philippines are calling on ASEM leaders to deliver sustainable development and commit to social protection measures as a "people-centered response to the crisis."

"We, from the civil society organizations in Asia and Europe, recognize the effort of the ASEM to discuss increased cooperation for achieving sustainable development in ASEM countries, focusing on progress in achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs), realising social inclusion, addressing climate change, and improving aid effectiveness. We believe ASEM leaders should take this unique opportunity to implement urgent measures to safeguard and protect the millions of poor who are most affected by the current economic crisis," the Asia-Europe People's Forum (AEPF) said in a statement.

The European Commission in co-operation with the Philippine government is holding a two-day high-level discussion on the challenges in the development of ASEM countries in the framework of sustainable development.

"While ASEM recognized in its Beijing Declaration the promotion of full and productive employment and decent work for all as crucial to safeguarding and improving people's livelihood, realizing effective social cohesion and achieving the MDGs, and the need for social protection systems to provide social security and support labor-market participation and emphasized achieving a fair distribution of incomes as key to social cohesion, the translation of these into concrete policies and actions have yet to be seen," noted the AEPF statement.

AEPF further stated that the integration of sustainable development in ASEM's mandate is necessary not only to address the dire negative impacts of neo-liberal economics on people's lives, but also because the global financial crisis has brought into sharp focus the drastic inequalities across Asia and Europe and the worsening poverty and exclusion faced by people in developing countries, which have been reeling from the rise in commodity prices, dramatic declines in trade and remittances, and diminishing aid budgets.

It said ASEM must demonstrate that it is serious in exercising leadership in addressing the global crisis and ending poverty in the context of sustainable development.

According to AEPF, it is pushing for social protection that goes beyond the concept of social security and insurance programs, stating that demanding social protection is about claiming the most vulnerable people's basic right to food, shelter, water, health, jobs, and other essential services, adding "these are not only the people who have lost homes and jobs as a result of the crisis, but also the millions of families in developing countries that have long been living in crisis conditions, neglected by their governments and denied their basic rights and access to services and resources."

AEPF representatives and partner organizations are participating in the ASEM conference and calling on ASEM to:

1. Commit to increased development cooperation in support of social protection programs in developing countries that focus on claiming the poor people's basic right to food, shelter, water, jobs, health, and other essential services.
2. Generate further momentum towards attaining the MDGs through credible, specific, and accelerated people-centered development projects. Increase role for local governments in service delivery or in the achievement of MDGs.
3. Accelerate increases in aid to meet long-standing aid commitments, as well as ensure long-term, predictable aid flows to developing countries. Meeting the aid pledge of 0.7% of gross national income is now more important than ever, as the failure of the donor countries to honor this commitment has hampered progress towards achieving the MDGs.
4. Ensure that aid is free from imposed trade and procurement conditionalities.
5. Commit to development cooperation that will also move ASEM countries onto a low carbon pathway and prepare the ground for consensus on climate change at COP15 in Copenhagen in December 2009.
6. Implement a system of national-local grants that rewards improved service delivery rather than loyalty. This will inevitably create a reciprocal dependence of politicians upon the communities that can help improve services and finance local public goods. Through performance-based grants ODA can be harnessed to support not just a more prudent and efficient use of resources but also a political system that is centered on priorities that people choose.

Urban poor holds picket during ASEM opening

A lightning rally was held outside the ASEM conference venue by urban poor groups belonging to Kilos Maralita, a network spearheading the campaign for social protection for the poor as a people's response to the economic crisis. Some 40-50 persons from urban poor communities in Metro Manila picketed in front of Mandarin Oriental Hotel to call the attention of NEDA chief Ralph Recto, keynote speaker of the ASEM meeting, and demand P50-billion for on-site development and in-city housing, as well as a social protection package they dubbed as "HOUSE package for the poor," which stands for Health service for all, On-site development and in-city housing, Unemployment insurance, Subsidies for water, food, education, and electricity, and Employment guarantee.