Opportunities and Challenges in Southeast Asia, 2019 (Bangkok, Thailand) 29 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), there was unanimous agreement that ASEAN does not work well as a platform to champion for digital rights – the principle of non-interference in ASEAN16 meant that any issue would be referred back to the national level. The lack of faith in ASEAN as a platform draws also from the discouraging experience of civil society in attempting to interface with the association for more than a decade, with not much to show as progress. The Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF)17 was mentioned as another platform to push new ideas at the regional level, however, it was pointed out by a respondent that governmental officials from Southeast Asian countries do not participate in that forum; even when they do speak on the panels they usually come in their individual capacities. This was contrasted with East Asian government representatives who do participate and defend their positions, which leads to a more fruitful engagement. In terms of movement building across the region, a notable effort is the COCONET Southeast Asian Digital Rights Camp, held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in October 2017 by EngageMedia, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) with seven other partners18. The camp gathered 105 digital rights “experts, journalists, activists, artists, technologists, researchers and filmmakers”, about 80% of them from Southeast Asia, with 5-15 participants per country19. Some outcomes of the event were increased cross-country networks and collaborations at small scales but which are nonetheless important for a new movement. COCONET 2 is happening in November 2019, with a COCONET 3 planned within the pipeline. Across all focus groups there was agreement that digital rights is not mainstreamed within the rest of civil society. Different issue areas are able to mobilise different sectors of civil society. For instance, media freedom groups are natural instigators or allies on freedom of expression online, and women and children’s groups have a stake in online safety. However, digital rights as an umbrella issue attains scarce attention, as civil society focuses on their main mandates and priorities (such as environmental work, refugee and migrant issues, public health, etc.) that preceded the new and unfamiliar threats brought about by digital technologies. 16 17 18 19 The principle stems from the notion of respecting the sovereignty of each member state to manage its own internal affairs, and has been enshrined within the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia of 1976. APRiGF is an annual conference to foster multistakeholder discussions on Internet governance at the regional level of Asia Pacific, and also serves as a platform to aggregate discussions of national Internet Governance Forums of countries within the region. Including Empower (Malaysia), Myanmar ICT for Development Organization (MIDO), SAFENET, and PurpleCode Collective (Indonesia), Thai Netizen Network, WITNESS, and the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. The outcomes report can be accessed here: https://www.engagemedia.org/CoconetShortReportFinal. pdf