Asia Pacific Research Network - APRN

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Asia Pacific Research Network - APRN

Advancing the transformative role of people's research.

The Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) was established to develop cooperation among alternative research centres of non-government organizations (NGOs) and social movements that work on current development issues affecting the people across the region. Among its primary concerns is to raise capacity in advocacy and education, particularly in the conduct of research and knowledge-sharing activiti

es. The APRN was established through a process that started in a conference in Canada in 1997, and culminated in its first research conference in Manila in 1999 on the WTO and the impact of trade liberalization on Asian countries. APRN’s strength and prestige as a regional research network is largely due to its being rooted in the social movements while adhering to the standards set for a scholarly undertaking. From an original 21 members, APRN is now 52 member-strong, with a growing number of applicants from national and regional NGOs and NGO coalitions from the Pacific to the Middle East. APRN’s former campaigns have led to the formation of independent regional and global networks, particularly on development and finance (Reality of Aid/RoA – Asia Pacific), agriculture and rural development (People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty /PCFS), water (Water for the People Network /WPN) and on climate change (Peoples’ Movement on Climate Change /PMCC). APRN also participates in other global or regional networks such as the Our World is Not for Sale (OWINFS) and Resist! – A global campaign against neoliberal globalization and war.

05/05/2026

| Side Event: “With Migrants, For Migrants: Spotlighting Issues, Gaps and Opportunities in the GCM and GCM Processes – Actualising Meaningful Participation of Grassroots Migrants”

6 May 2026, Wed | 13.15–14.30 PM EDT
Venue: Bahá’i International Community, 866 UN Plaza, New York.

As governments gather to review the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration ( ), this in-person side event creates space to centre grassroots migrants and their lived realities to highlight key gaps, challenges and opportunities in implementation.

Across the Asia Pacific, migrants continue to face restrictive pathways, exploitation and exclusion from decision-making processes. This discussion brings together migrant-led organisations, civil society and UN stakeholders to push for meaningful participation in migration governance.

This side event is jointly organised by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM), Asia Pacific Research Network - APRN, and co-sponsored by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants.

01/05/2026

On International Workers’ Day, we honor the millions of migrant workers across Asia Pacific and the world whose labor sustains economies that too often refuse to see them as full members of society.

Today, the Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) releases two new research studies on migrant workers in two of the region’s largest host countries:

“Investigating the Perception of Taiwanese Youth on Migrant Workers” by Migrante-Taiwan (Julia Justine C. Mariano, Girard Mariano L. Lopez, and Chih-Ning Ho): https://www.aprnet.org/investigating-the-perception-of-taiwanese-youth-on-migrant-workers/

“Komyunikeshon for Tolerance and Acceptance: In the Densha, Shokuba, and Shakai” by KAFIN Migrant Center, Japan (Elbert John Honorica): https://www.aprnet.org/japanese-perceptions-of-migrant-workers/

Both studies surface the same sobering pattern: migrant workers are recognized as essential to the economy, but acceptance often stops at economic utility.

The research points clearly to where change must come from: meaningful, reciprocal interaction; education that names the neoliberal and imperialist structures behind forced migration; and communication that elevates migrant voices over fear-driven misinformation.

These studies were produced with the support of the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC).

24/04/2026

Sa pagdiriwang ng Cordillera Day, ipinapahayag namin mula sa Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) ang aming matibay na pakikiisa sa mamamayan ng Cordillera sa kanilang patuloy na pakikibaka para sa lupa, buhay, at kabuhayan. Sa gitna ng krisis, mula sa tumitinding kalagayang pang-ekonomiya hanggang sa patuloy na banta ng mapanirang proyekto at militarisasyon sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng kanayunan, lalo nilang pinagtitibay ang paninindigan para sa karapatan sa sariling pagpapasya at makatarungang kapayapaan.

Kinikilala namin na ang laban ng Cordillera ay nakaugat sa mahabang kasaysayan ng paglaban para sa lupang ninuno at dignidad. Isang laban na patuloy na hinaharap sa kasalukuyan laban sa pang-aagaw ng lupa, pagsasamantala sa likas-yaman, at mga patakarang nagpapalala ng kahirapan at kawalan ng katarungan.

Ang pakikibakang ito ay hindi hiwalay. Ito ay kaakibat ng mga laban ng mga mamamayan sa buong Asya at Pasipiko na humaharap din sa imperyalistang pandarambong, inhustisya sa klima, at paglabag sa karapatan ng mga katutubo at marhinalisadong komunidad. Mula sa kabundukan hanggang sa mga isla, iisa ang panawagan: ipagtanggol ang lupa, igiit ang karapatan, at itaguyod ang kapayapaan na nakabatay sa hustisya.

Sa harap ng kabi-kabilang hamon, nananatiling matatag ang diwa ng kolektibong paglaban at pagkakaisa. Ang laban para sa sariling pagpapasya at paglaya ay laban nating lahat; isang panrehiyon at pandaigdigang pakikibaka para sa tunay na demokrasya, dignidad, at kalayaan.

Mabuhay ang mamamayan ng Cordillera! Mabuhay ang pakikibaka para sa lupa, buhay, at kapayapaan!

20/04/2026

Across the Philippines, economic policies, foreign influence, and expanding militarization continue to deepen inequality and undermine sovereignty, with Filipinos bearing the consequences of these systemic conditions.

As the 2026 Balikatan exercises begin today, over 17,000 troops from the US, Philippines, Japan, Australia, Canada, France, and New Zealand are deployed across key areas in the country, including northern Luzon and coastal communities near the West Philippine Sea. Alongside live-fire drills and expanded military operations, communities once again face disruptions, restricted access to fishing grounds and farmland, and heightened security presence that affects daily movement and livelihoods.

These are not isolated issues. Unpeace is shaped by systems that prioritize profit, power, and control over people’s rights and dignity. Peace cannot exist without justice.

Read the full article: https://www.aprnet.org/us-intervention-and-continuing-unpeace-in-the-philippines/

07/04/2026

An International Solidarity Mission (ISM) in 2025 documented the lived realities of the Mangyan-Iraya in Occidental Mindoro, exposing how militarization and corporate expansion operate together to open lands to extraction while suppressing resistance.

Since then, aerial bombardment, forced evacuations, and restricted humanitarian access have intensified. Militarization continues to function as a mechanism to secure corporate interests.

The March 29 arrest and continued detention of Ceeka Garzon, a cultural worker, underscores how repression also targets those engaged in cultural work and community solidarity through trumped-up charges.

This reflects a broader pattern across the Philippines and the Asia Pacific, where development is enforced through militarization at the expense of Indigenous communities.

31/03/2026

The world is entering a period of intensified crisis marked by escalating wars, deepening economic instability, and shifting global power.

These developments are not isolated. They are interconnected expressions of a broader system under strain, with real and immediate consequences for the people, particularly across the Asia Pacific.

This article examines the underlying conditions driving these conflicts, the evolving nature of war, and the urgent need for collective understanding, solidarity, and action.

Read the full article: https://www.aprnet.org/the-world-in-crisis-implications-and-prospects-for-the-people/

08/03/2026

On International Working Women’s Day, the Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) stands in solidarity with working women across the Asia Pacific whose labor sustains families, communities, and economies.

Despite their immense contributions, women continue to face deep structural inequalities in work and economic participation. Women globally are still paid around 20 percent less than men, and women perform over 16 billion hours of unpaid care work every day worldwide. Women also spend more than 2.5 times as many hours on unpaid care and domestic work as men, limiting their opportunities to participate fully in paid employment, leadership, and decision making. (UN Women, 2024)

Across the Asia Pacific, many women remain concentrated in informal, low paid, and precarious sectors such as agriculture, domestic work, services, and global supply chains where labor protections are often weakest.

Yet working women across the region continue to organize, lead movements, defend communities, and advance struggles for labor rights, social justice, and people centered development.

On this International Working Women’s Day, APRN calls on governments and institutions to strengthen labor protections, ensure equal pay, invest in public care systems, and protect the rights of women workers across all sectors.

A just and equitable future depends on recognizing the rights, leadership, and contributions of working women.

10/02/2026

Aaron Ceradoy of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants and Chairperson of the Asia Pacific Research Network examined the structural conditions shaping the Asia-Pacific region that situated APRN’s research conference within a wider context and framework.

The paper analyzes widening inequality, labor precarity, unemployment, and the informalization of work, alongside the concentration of wealth and the expansion of trade blocs, debt-driven development, and international financial institutions.

It forms part of the conference’s broader research discussions on conditions in the Asia-Pacific region, situated within APRN’s ongoing work on imperialism, development, labor, and people’s movements. The inclusion of this paper contributes to collective analysis and exchange among researchers, organizations, and movements engaged in documenting structural realities and advancing people-centered perspectives across the region.

Read more: https://www.aprnet.org/at-the-eye-of-the-imperialist-storm-the-situation-in-the-asia-pacific/

28/01/2026

Drawing from the keynote address by Jiten Yumnam of the Center for Research and Advocacy - Manipur during the APRN Research Conference 2025, these reflections situate conflict in the Asia-Pacific within broader structures of imperialism, militarization, and extractive economic systems.

The analysis foregrounds how competition over land, resources, trade routes, and geopolitical influence continues to produce displacement, repression, and humanitarian crises across the region.

Achieving peace is inseparable from achieving justice, self-determination, and the collective struggles of affected communities. People’s resistance and solidarity is central to advancing a peace that is holistic, durable, and grounded in lived realities.

Read more: https://www.aprnet.org/imperialism-conflict-and-fostering-peace-in-asia/

22/01/2026

In photos: APRN Biennial Research Conference 2025 in Kathmandu, Nepal, convened researchers from Asia-Pacific countries under the theme “Pursuing the Path Toward Peace: People’s Resistance and Collective Solutions.” Across two days of keynote, panels, and workshops, participants examined how militarism, extractivism, and debt-driven development reshape conflicts, civic space, and livelihoods while advancing people-centered research grounded in rights, accountability, and collective resistance in the Asia Pacific Region.

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