Conference in Bangkok explores significance of ETOs in Asia
For the first time in Asia, civil society organizations and social movements meet in Bangkok to discuss the crucial aspect of ETOs in South, South East, and East Asia.
Over 140 participants from civil society and and social movements took part of the “Human rights based governance beyond borders – and the role of Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations (ETOs) ” Conference from September 2-3, in Bangkok, Thailand. The event was convened by the Chulalongkorn University’s Masters Program in International Development, Asia Pacific Forum On Women, Law And Development (APWLD), the ETO Consortium (ETOC), Focus on the Global South, and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI).
The conference took place in the beautiful Chumpot Pantip Conference Room at the Chulalongkorn University with keynote speakers Sriprapha Petcharamesree (former Thai representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights AICHR) and Cephas Lumina (former UN Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt). Further speakers included Seree Nonthasoot (AICHR), Charles Santiago (MP Malaysia), Lidy Nacpil (Jubilee South), Ansori Sinungan (Indonesian National Human Rights Commission).
Some key questions discussed at the event included the relevance of ETOs for the South and South East Asia and the expectations on non-Asian states implementing ETOs in their interaction with Asia. The significance of ETOs was also explored in some detail in the fields of regulating finance, investment and trade, stopping regional resource grabs (land/soils/water/seeds), accountability for TNCs, institutional governance (including post 2015), corporate capture and multistakeholderism.
In a civil society organization (CSO) workshop on the second day, FIAN International provided input on how the Maastricht ETO Principles are applied in its day-to-day work, and participants pursued strategic ETO questions in working groups dealing with Finance and International Financial Institutions (IFIs), Corporate Accountability and the Transnational Corporations (TNC) Treaty, Resource Rights, Trade and Investment. Some outcomes from these working groups included the creation of an Asian platform on resource grabs, an Asian network of the International Treaty Alliance supporting the work towards a treaty regulating TNCs, and a call for an Asian campaign against the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).