Recent press articles spotlight blacklisting of CSOs from Annual Meetings in Singapore
11 September 2006
New developments have jeopardized the ability of civil society organizations to participate in the upcoming IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings, scheduled to take place in Singapore from September 14-20.
Last week local Indonesian police announced that they would not be allowing the International Peoples Forum, set to begin this week, to take place in Batam. The event was estimated to attract civil society groups from over 40 countries for seminars, workshops and strategy meetings on Indonesian and international issues related to the World Bank and IMF. News that Singaporean officials had pressured Indonesian authorities to disallow the forum quickly reached civil society groups and the media. Simultaneously, reports emerged that certain civil society representatives who had already received their accreditation by the World Bank had been "blacklisted" from participating in the Annual Meetings and were likely to be denied entrance into the country by the Government of Singapore.
Following intense pressure from shocked civil society groups around the world and a deluge of news reports, the Indonesian authorities withdrew their ban on the International Peoples Forum. As for the meetings in Singapore, there are still a number of questions waiting to be answered about the list of banned civil society representatives and access into the country for many traveling from abroad.
Check out BIC’s website as we monitor new developments by the hour and we'll keep you abreast of any news regarding CSO activities in Indonesia and Singapore.
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