3. Summary Report of the Program
The consultation meeting of ICMICA-Asia/Pacific under the theme "Lay Leadership and Empowerment for the 21st Century in Asia" took place in Hong Kong from 31 May to 1 June 1999. It was held in combination with the bi-annual consultation meeting of Asian Youth International Catholic Organisations (AYICOs), which took place three days before the ICMICA meeting. The AYICOs are composed of four international Catholic organisations, namely IMCS, IYCS, International Young Christian Workers (IYCW) and ICMICA. About ten participants from Australia, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand attended both the AYICO and Forum meetings.
During the consultation meeting, participants reviewed critically the impact of the three regional meetings recently organised by ICMICA Asia - Bangkok Asian Human Rights Workshop (August, 1997), Manila Forum on Asian Synod (March, 1998) and Seoul Forum on Asian Economic Crisis (August, 1998).
Most of the participants valued the meetings in that they were a timely response to the emerging challenges of that time, and helped ICMICA Asia to be recognised and appreciated more by the civil society as well as the Church in Asia. However, it was pointed out that there should be more systematic follow-up at the local and national level. There was also a suggestion that reflections made at those meetings be brought to the various international fora such as the United Nations Commission and Sub-Commission on Human Rights. Some proposals were made to enhance the effectiveness of regional coordination on the basis of the review of the situation of the national federations.
Mary Yuen, Secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of Hong Kong Diocese and Anne Lam, journalist were invited to discuss the human rights issues in Hong Kong and the situation of the Church in China.
After the meeting, participants visited some local NGOs including the Asian Secretariat of IYCW, the Asian Center for the Progress of Peoples (ACPP) Hot-line, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the Regional Secretariat of Amnesty International, etc. A few members also met with Fr Malone, Assistant Secretary-General of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) to discuss collaboration for the forthcoming Plenary Assembly of FABC in Thailand in January 2000.
