The GPPAC Network in Southeast Asia is coordinated by Regional Secretariat Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID). For more information on GPPAC in the region, contact:

Mr. Augusto Miclat 

27, Galaxy Street
GSIS Heights, Matina
8000 Davao City
Philippines.
Phone: (63)(82) 2992574 - 5
Telefax: (63)(82) 2992052
e-mail: gus@iidnet.org

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The Southeast Asia regional process started in late 2003 as a result of the Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia “Consultation on the Role of Civil Society in the Prevention of Armed conflict” held in Davao City, Mindanao. Deciding on separate processes for North and South East Asia, a Regional Steering Group (RSG) was formed from five ASEAN countries that were represented. Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) was approved as the regional initiator and secretariat for the SEA process.

The Steering Group held its First Meeting in Manila on July 7-8, 2004 where they agreed to interact with the other regions involved in the global GPPAC process especially Northeast Asia, Pacific and South Asia; and to develop strategies for convergence or complementation with similar processes like the Community of Democracies (CD) through the non-governmental component.

On 21–25 November 2004 the Second Asian Civil Society Forum (ACSF) was held in Bangkok on the topic “Building UN-NGOs Partnership for Democratic Governance through MDGs”. In this conference, the SEA GPPAC team conducted a workshop to socialize GPPAC to the ACSF network, where they interacted with the Northeast Asia regional process and participating country delegates and civil society actors from the rest of Asia. The SEA RSG also held a meeting after the ACSF in November 2004, where the national processes were discussed, as well the Regional Action Agenda and the planning for the regional conference in 2005.

Regional Conference in Manila, March 2005

The Southeast Asia Regional Conference was held in Manila on March 7-10, 2005 on the theme: "Peoples' Participation in Conflict Prevention in Southeast Asia: the Role of Civil Society". With some 50 organizations participating, the regional process now included civil society representatives from Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor Leste (East Timor). The conference was also attended by representatives of local and regional organizations.

A major conference output was the approval of the SEA Regional Action Agenda. The agenda has 11 general principles and highlights the unique and complicated character of conflicts in the region; it also offers grassroots perspectives on the root causes and the possible solutions of these conflicts (see full document).

Another significant output of the conference was the endorsement given by the Philippine President for the GPPAC regional process, the first ASEAN government to do so. Other outputs of the regional process includes a regional essay on the topic “The Roles of Civil Society in Working with Conflict in our Region (SEA)” and a “Directory of Regional Cooperation among CSOs in Conflict Prevention”, a detailed document of the location and types of conflicts in the region, CSO interventions in the conflict and CSO cooperation with the UN and governments in the region.

Besides this, background materials prepared focused on Civil Society engagements with UN Missions in Timor and Cambodia and on the “Bantay Ceasefire (Ceasefire Watch): Grassroots and South-South Cooperation” experience, which was a contribution from the SEA region to the People Building Peace II: Successful stories of civil society* book. A web-based discussion group was also set up to facilitate communication and cooperation amongst the involved members.

The regional process sought to incorporate the GPPAC process into related global processes in peace building. IID has introduced the GPPAC process to the Community of Democracies (CD), a country-level grouping which will culminate in a ministerial meeting in Chile in 2005. CD has a "Democratic Caucus" within the United Nations, and IID will channel its lobby through the Non-Governmental Forum of the CD.

IID has also lobbied on the research component of GPPAC, and has been able to extract willingness from the Southeast Asian Conflict Studies Network (SEACSN) based in Penang, Malaysia to integrate the GPPAC agenda into its research thrust for the next three years.

* Produced by the European Centre for Conflict Prevention and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers Inc (www.rienner.com).

The Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) is an advocacy and solidarity organization based in Mindanao, the Philippines with campaigns and capability-building programs, currently in East Timor, Burma and Mindanao. It was founded in Manila in 1988.

In Mindanao, IID campaigns for the genuine participation of grassroots Moros, indigenous peoples and Christian settlers in the peace processes while working towards ensuring that indigenous or traditional ways of peacemaking are recognized, sustained, institutionalized and popularized.

In Burma, IID is lobbying governments and entities to initiate and sustain the process for a dialogue between the military junta, democratic forces and ethnic nationalities. IID pays special attention in ensuring that the substance of the demands of the ethnic nationalities is embedded into the dialogue process.

In East Timor, IID supports East Timorese civil society in seeking international sanctions against the masterminds behind the crimes in East Timor and engages in capacity-building activities aimed at equipping its East Timorese partners with knowledge and skills in specified fields of assistance.

In 1994, IID organized the first Asia-Pacific Conference in East Timor, which brought East Timor's issues in its own backyard, i.e. Southeast Asia. As secretariat of the Asia-Pacific Coalition for East Timor (APCET), IID helped lobby ASEAN and UN for East Timor's independence, which it gained through a UN-sponsored referendum in 1999.

IID is also co-founder and steering committee member of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (Altsean) based in Bangkok.

In 1997, IID co-organized a gathering of civil society organizations from Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia to address effects of the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) and lobbied governments for greater transparency.

In Mindanao, IID convened the Mindanao Peoples' Caucus (MPC), which is lobbying government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for representation of grassroots communities in the peace processes and recognition of indigenous ways of peace making. MPC has successfully lobbied for the inclusion of a representative from the indigenous peoples in the technical working group of the Philippine government's peace panel and observer status in formal peace talks. Its "Bantay Cessefire" (Cease-fire Watch) missions investigate reported breaches in the ceasefire and makes recommendations to the parties in truce. In an effort to develop a peace constituency in Mindanao, IID convened "Peace in MindaNOW!" in May 2003, which gathered the major peace networks in Mindanao. It was later transformed into the "Mindanao Peaceweavers", of which IID is the lead secretariat.