About PARCIC

The Pacific Asia Resource Center, also known as PARC, was established as a non-government organization in 1973. Even before its establishment, PARC made a name for itself with its English language publication, AMPO, which carried well-researched articles on Free Trade Zones, banana plantation in the Philippines, shrimp farming and peoples’ movements in Japan and Asia.

Over the years PARC dedicated itself to several important causes and projects. It carried out campaigns on debt, trade and other related issues. A long-running project has been to extend emergency support to the people of Timor-Leste fleeing from massacre, mass plundering and other senseless violence following its decision to become free from Indonesian rule in September 1999. Another important project for PARC has been its commitment to the people of Sri Lanka who have suffered from continuing ethnic conflict for over two decades, and the Tsunami of December 2004.

PARC has decided to divide its tasks into two divisions from April 1, 2008: the first, PARC, will focus on advocacy-oriented research and education in Japan. The second, PARCIC (PARC Interpeoples’ Cooperation), will focus on interpeoples’ cooperation and fair-trade.

Both PARCIC and PARC share the same goal, namely to achieve a global society where people can live in equality, peace and harmony. However, as the divisions have distinct missions it is expected that they will work more efficiently and effectively after the re-organization. For more details on PARC, please visit http://www.parc-jp.org

The mission of PARCIC is to extend direct support to people afflicted by violence or natural disasters and to help them achieve self-reliance. We promote direct exchange and trade based on trust among people as a mean toward self-reliant, peaceful and human development.

Since 2002, we have extended our support to coffee producers in Timor-Leste and we import their product under fair price terms. These high quality coffee beans are sold under the brand name Cafe Timor in the Japanese fair trade market.

Another sustainable project is our work with the fishing communities of Jaffna where ethnic war waged between Sri Lankan government and LTTE, forcing the people living on the peninsula to suffer from chronic food shortage, due to their isolation from the rest of the country. Our office in Jaffna implements a chicken poultry project that has been invaluable in helping the people there achieve economic sustainability.