Taiwan Hosts Civil Society Activists from Southeast Asia

Even the largest typhoon since 1996 failed to stop Taiwan from hosting Southeast Asian civil society and stakeholders to discuss the issue of shrinking civic space in the region.

Held on 31 October 2024, the Asia Citizen Future Week (ACFW) organized by Asia Citizen Future Organization (ACFA) proceeded online even as Typhoon Kong-rey was battering Taiwan.   The main objective of the event was to consolidate the connections between Taiwan and Southeast Asian civil society, and to build a platform to increase dialogue and develop collaboration and strategies.

ACFW 2024 follows the release of an ACFA report entitled ‘Exploring Taiwan’s Role Amid the Crisis of Closing Civic Space in Southeast Asia’ in 2023, which looks into Taiwan’s potential to provide a safe and welcoming environment for Southeast Asian CSOs and human rights defenders.  In the same year, the Taiwan and Southeast Asia Civil Society Week was also held, bringing stakeholders from the region to gather and discuss potential strategies to defend civic space.

During ACFW 2024, Vietnam Rise – a group which draws experience from movement building in Vietnam and across the world,  organized an NGO Roundtable entitled “Resilience in Action: Building Secure Regional Collaboration” which brought together civil society representatives and thinktanks to: map opportunities and challenges to movement collaboration; discuss innovative, collaborative and community-based approaches and solutions to regional issues; and strengthen cross-regional efforts for resilience and resistance.

CALD Executive Director Lito Arlegue was invited to share his thoughts on best practices and strategies on network- or movement-building, drawing from the experience of CALD. He discuss the huge role of trust and personal relations in the work of civil society.  He also highlighted the importance of communication in increasing visibility and building organizational reputation, which, in turn, opens more opportunities.

“My participation in ACFW 2024 was a great opportunity to learn about the experiences of other CSOs in the region, particularly in defending freedom of expression and association”, said Arlegue.  “It also made me realize the huge potential of Taiwan to become a shelter for human rights defenders in the region – which, in this day and age of intensifying authoritarianism —  can spell the difference between freedom and subjugation, even between life and death.”