31 March 2012
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

We, more than 1,200 delegates from all ten ASEAN countries representing various civil society organizations and movements of workers from rural and urban sectors as well as the migrant sector, peasants and farmers, women, children, youth, the elderly, persons with disabilities, urban poor, Indigenous Peoples, victims of human rights violations, domestic workers, lesbian gay transgender/transsexual intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people, human rights defenders and other groups, gathered together in Phnom Penh for the 2012 ASEAN Civil Society Conference / Peoples’ Forum (ACSC/APF) on 29-31 March 2012, to discuss issues under the theme “Transforming ASEAN into a People Centered Community”.

The growing awareness of ASEAN and its meetings and institutions by the region's people is encouraging. However, we note with deep disappointment that during the ACSC/APF unacceptable restrictions were imposed on participants’ human rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Certain participants were continuously discouraged from attending the ACSC/APF, and workshops on land rights and on Burma/Myanmar were not allowed to take place.