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Brief summary of the meeting of WSF Asia Interim Council held on 16^th December in Hong Kong

WSF 2006 event in Karachi is now likely to be scheduled on 23-28 March 2006 at Karachi.

WSF 2006 event in South East Asia is likely to be held in Bangkok on 21-22 October 2006.

In a meeting of the interim WSF Asia Council, held in Hong Kong on 16 December evening, some of these issues came up. They crystalised after rounds of debates and discussions. Around 80 people attended the meeting for three hours, representing various organisations of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Phillipines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Palestine, USA, Germany, Holland and Belgium.

The meeting discussed the WSF events in Karachi and South East Asia, and the working of the interim Asia Council. A representative of the Pakistan Social Forum also shared that there are plans to organise an Asia-level meeting at Karachi in the first week of February (between 31 Jan-5 Feb), to ensure wider involvement of Asian groups in the making of the Karachi events. Further, he stated that more information about the WSF events in Karachi will be updated and widely disseminated in the near future.

The colleague from the Pakistan Social Forum emphasised the need for wider political, organisational and financial support from outside in the wake of the earthquake. The meeting resolved to give maximum possible support to the Karachi events. However, it was suggested that the Pakistan Social Forum needs to come out with a blueprint of needs, requirements and challenges.

Regarding the WSF events in South East Asia, it was shared that Bangkok was the only place with a proposal for the WSF 2006 events in the region. Some members expressed that the Bangkok events should be for at least three days or more than that. The representative from Thailand explained the processes and possibilities to expand the dates and events. They have requested the organisations to propose topics that they would like to organise and also the ways and means to organise translations and its equipments. The contact for WSF South East Asia is thaiwsf yahoo.com

The meeting decided that the interim Asia Council would continue to work from the WSF India Office till its next Council meeting. The documents for the formation of the Asia Council will be re-distributed soon, to take forward the decisions taken at the Colombo meeting in June 2005.

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THE INTERIM WSF ASIAN MECHANISM
Adopted at the Asian Consultation on the World Social Forum
Sri Lanka, 4 & 5 June 2005

TERMS OF REFERENCE

The Asian movements, groups and NGOs gathered at the Asian Consultation Meeting on the WSF held in Sri Lanka on 4&5 June 2005 adopt a realistic set of mechanism and processes that seek to ensure an open, democratic and workable system of working together will be realized toward continuing and enhancing the WSF processes in the continent.

1. The Asian processes linked to the World Social Forum have considerably advanced in the last three years since the successful holding of the Asian Social Forum in Hyderabad, India (2003) and of the 4^th WSF in Mumbai, India (2004). A diversity of groups, networks and social movements from various sub-regions of Asia have participated in these processes, many of which have catalyzed their own national processes following those of the spirit and intent of the global WSF.

2. Toward meeting the challenge of animating WSF processes in those parts of the Asian region where there are incipient or weak links with the WSF but where are found social movements, groups and networks enthused with forging ahead with WSF processes in their contexts and in particular, to encourage the expansion of Asian participants in the WSF International Council as well as to prepare for the WSF events in Asia (polycentric, sub-regional, thematic etc) in 2006, this meeting adopts the following mechanism and processes as follows:

2.1 The participating social movements, groups and networks of this Asian consultation constitute themselves as the INTERIM ASIAN COUNCIL that guides and oversees the WSF processes and activities in Asia.

a. It is to ensure that the Asian WSF remains an open space for all groups, networks and social movements that abide by the WSF Charter of Principles;

b. It is to ensure that the WSF space is made vibrant by expanding inclusivity and deepening processes of democratic debate among social movements, groups and networks within such space;

c. It is to draft two framework papers on: (1) contextualizing the WSF in Asia and (2) organizational structure and rules for the ASIAN COUNCIL;

d. It is to decide on whether, when and where WSF events in Asia will be held in 2006, including the polycentric WSF event;

e. It is to guide the content and processes and mobilize for the Asian WSF events in 2006 through a process and structure to be determined by its members, in close interaction with the host organizing committees, and in the case of the polycentric event, in interaction with the International Council;

f. It is to facilitate Asian participation in WSF events taking place at the global sphere and in other continental, regional and national spaces outside of Asia;

g. It is automatically formalized into the ASIAN COUNCIL at its follow-up meeting in January 2006 in Pakistan and at which time a process of elaborating the Terms of Reference will take place. A second meeting of the ASIAN COUNCIL will take place sometime in the period May-July, in South East Asia.

2.2 The member organizations of the INTERIM ASIAN COUNCIL will will also function as SUB-REGIONAL ANIMATING GROUPS composed of all of the representative social movements, groups and networks from each of these regions: South Asia, West Asia, East & Northeast Asia, and Southeast Asia that are in attendance at this meeting. Its functions are the following:

a. It is to ensure that the WSF spirit and intent is shared with a wide range of social movements, groups and neworks within the sub-regions toward animating their participation in the WSF processes, including sitting as future members of the planned ASIAN COUNCIL;

b. It is to ensure a more balanced participation of groups across the sub-regions of Asia is realized at the meeting in May-July 2006 in South East Asia / East Asia at which time the formal ASIAN COUNCIL will be established;

c. Each sub-regional animating group will identify three members (SUB-REGIONAL COMMUNICATORS) who will be responsible for the following:

c.1 Take the lead in putting in place an efficient email-based information and communications system among its members & potential members in the sub-region,
c.2 Ensure that all information and communication that the International Secretariat based in Delhi wishes to widely share, reach the widest number of groups within the sub-region;

c.3 Ensure that a vibrant information exchange and discussion on the WSF takes place by email across a wide range of groups in the sub-region;
c.4 Take on additional information, communication and coordination work that may be necessary to ensure that the sub-region actively mobilizes for the 2006 WSF event/s in Asia;

d. Both the Sub-regional Animating Groups and the Sub-Regional Communicators will dissolve upon the adoption of the framework paper on the organization and rules of the Asian Council at the next meeting in January 2006 in Pakistan.

3. The WSF-India will coordinate the Interim Asian Council and the Sub-regional Animating Groups for the period of its existence. The final WSF Asian secretariat will be decided on in 2006 by the.formal Asian Council.

Polycentric WSF 2006 events in Asia

The Asian movements, groups and NGOs gathered at the Asian Consultation Meeting on the WSF held in Sri Lanka on 4&5 June 2005 also adopt the following:

We endorse the proposal for two events in Asia as part of the polycentric WSF 2006. The first would be organised in Karachi, Pakistan, between January 26-30, 2006. The second would be organised in the South-East/East Asia region some time between May to July 2006. The place and venue of this event would be decided by groups from the region at a consultation, that will possibly be organised in Bangkok in August, 2005. While the event in Karachi would draw larger participation from South Asia, West Asia and Central Asia and the event in South East/East Asia from South East and East Asia, both the events would be supported by the WSF Asia process.

Adopted on 5 June 2006
Sri Lanka