Several Latin American countries walked out of the Civil Society Forum in Trinidad yesterday, signalling a thorny start to the scheduled dialogue between hemispheric Foreign Ministers and civil society stakeholders when the Fifth Summit of the Americas opens today.
Limited consensus on the thematic issues to be advanced by the civil society group reportedly triggered the walk-out. The forum, which opened on Tuesday as a prelude to the summit, descended into a public row between stakeholders yesterday as the sessions were wrapping up.
Moderator Ingrid Ruben, Director of Culture, Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, Trinidad and Tobago struggled to bring an end to the disagreement. After constant pleading and a firm decision to move ahead with what was agreed upon the forum continued.
Stabroek News was told by a participant who requested anonymity that the forum was “hijacked by political beings.” He said that civil society while committing to work with government must “chart its own course unhindered”.
The participants at the forum disagreed over the issues that are to be advanced when a delegation of forty from the forum meet with regional ministers. While some persons were interested in pushing the agenda of transparency in the civil society forum and less political affiliations with civil society, others viewed the opportunity as one to advance issues such as health promotion and social justice.
Guyanese Andrew Garnett, who appeared as a representative of the Caribbean Labour Union, told this newspaper yesterday that he was a bit disappointed with how the process unfolded. He praised the opening sessions, noting that they were able to tackle a number of pertinent issues.
However, he said that on the final day of discussions the mood degenerated into one where persons “were changing course”.
Garnett said that the focus shifted and according to him, it resulted in the forum’s objectives being hampered. He said that the disagreement hinged on which issues were to be advanced and those who were likely to be chosen to meet with the regional ministers.
The Civil Society Forum addressed over the two days the issue of what role social actors will play in future collaborative efforts in the current period of economic turmoil, in addition to highlighting the need for a multipartite collaboration for resolving economic and social challenges.
