The Pretty Good Podcast Youth Series spotlights youth advocates leading initiatives related to digital rights across the Asia-Pacific. In this series, young changemakers interview fellow youth to share best practices, exchange ideas, and draw inspiration from each other’s efforts in advocating for internet freedom and safeguarding digital spaces. Through candid conversations, we explore the innovative ways young people are tackling pressing digital rights issues and shaping a better future for the region.
In this episode, Doris Yang, Project Coordinator at the Asia Citizen Future Association (ACFA), and Ann Quebec and Laika Corral, Legal Officers at the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS), discuss the growing restrictions on civic space in Taiwan and the Philippines, and how young advocates are building solidarity across borders to defend the right to freedom of association.
The three guests first connected at the Digital Rights in the Asia-Pacific Assembly (DRAPAC), leading to their collaboration through the Freedom of Association in Taiwan and Southeast Asia (FATASEA) Working Group. This group includes 10 civil society partners from Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, focusing on research, advocacy, and youth empowerment to protect civic space in the region.
Their conversation sheds light on the ongoing efforts to combat shrinking civic space, particularly through the 2024 report, Shrinking Civic Space and the Current Situation of the Right to Freedom of Association in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand, presented at the Asia Citizen Future Week (ACWF). The report explores how legal restrictions and political pressures threaten civil society, offering actionable solutions.
Beyond the legal and political analysis, the episode emphasizes the urgency of engaging the next generation in civic action. From legal defense to youth organizing, it highlights how cross-border collaboration and intergenerational solidarity are essential to preserving civic space, and how young people are leading that charge.
About the organizations:
Asia Citizen Future Association (ACFA): ACFA was established as a social organization (NGO) in Taiwan in 2022. The mission of the Asia Citizen Future Association (ACFA) is to connect Taiwan and Southeast Asia to defend civic space in the region through research and advocacy, education and training, youth empowerment, and platform building.
Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS): a non-stock, non-profit legal focused advocacy and service institution organized to address the legal and technical needs of the marginalized, disempowered, and vulnerable groups, particularly the agrarian reform beneficiaries, farmer-traders, migrant sectors, persons and communities affected by disasters, and victims of human rights violations.
