Walhi takes campaign to Bangkok
Walhi takes campaign to Bangkok
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) plans to voice Indonesia's concern with industrial toxins at an international non-governmental organization conference in Bangkok, which will precede next week's Asia-Europe Summit.
Arimbi, Walhi's program manager for environmental law, told The Jakarta Post that she will be presenting a paper on the impact of the toxic trade during the conference.
Although the government has banned the import of industrial waste, she said there are still concerns regarding industrial chemicals and the transfer of obsolete technologies which produce toxic waste.
The three-day, Asia-Europe NGO meeting will be held at the Asia Hotel in Bangkok beginning on Friday.
The meeting, organized by the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South, will bring together some 100 representatives from more than 30 Asian and European NGOs.
Leaders from 25 countries are scheduled to attend the inaugural meeting of Asian and European states in Bangkok on March 1-2.
Indonesia's President Soeharto is among the 10 Asian leaders scheduled to attend this historical summit.
The summit will mainly focus on forging stronger economic and political ties between governments from the two continents.
Organizers of the NGO meeting are also stressing the importance of people-to-people contact and the need to address the concerns they face, including the toxic trade which results from, among other things, the export of chemicals from Europe to Asia.
Arimbi said the theme of the NGO meeting is "to go beyond geo- economics towards a new relationship between the people of Asia and Europe."
A multitude of concerns will be highlighted at the conference, including human rights, labor rights, women's issues, indigenous rights as well as the environment.
One of the key issues likely to be brought up is the question of East Timor, according to reports from Bangkok.
During the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Bangkok last December, demonstrations over East Timor were among the many protests which hampered traffic around the summit site.
In an apparent attempt to appease Jakarta, the Thai government has rejected a visa request from Ramos Horta, the exiled East Timor separatist leader, to attend the NGO conference.
Thai officials during a recent press briefing said the NGO activists have the right to launch demonstrations and protests as long as they do not impede the official proceedings of the summit. (mds)