On the 17-18 August 2015 the 8th Regional Consultation on ASEAN and Human Rights – Migration and Human Rights in ASEAN will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Regional Consultation on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Human Rights is a yearly initiative of Southeast Asian civil society organisations (CSOs) led by the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and the SAPA Task Force on ASEAN and Human Rights (TFAHR).
The Regional Consultation serves as a platform for strengthening engagement of civil society with the ASEAN Human Rights Mechanisms, namely the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and the ASEAN Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC), as well as for analysing the human rights situation in the ASEAN region.
Participants will this year will include: civil society organizations from ASEAN countries; representatives of the AICHR and the ACWC; international non-governmental organizations (NGOs); academics; members of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs); representatives of ASEAN Member States; and journalists.
The focus of this years’ Regional Consultation is in recognition of migration having become one of the core issue of concern in the ASEAN region. This reality is exacerbated even more by ASEAN’s desire, as laid out in Article 2.6 of the ASEAN Charter, “to create single market and production base which is stable, prosperous, highly competitive and economically integrated with effective facilitation for trade and investment which there is free flow of goods, services and investment; facilitated movement of business persons, professionals, talents and labour; and freer flow of capital”. ASEAN’s efforts to address and develop policies and instruments on migration in the region cover not only issues on migrant workers, but also on human trafficking, conflicts, statelessness and more.
Recognizing the existing challenges in ensuring the protection of the human rights of migrants and the various efforts towards this, the key objectives of the 8th Regional Consultation on ASEAN and Human Rights are: a) To identify, map and scope the human rights issues which migrants in the ASEAN region currently face, particularly in the context of the launch of the ASEAN Community in 2015; b) To provide a platform for dialogue, solidarity and coordination of activities focussed on the promotion and protection of the human rights of migrants between civil society, NHRIs, and other relevant stakeholders in the ASEAN region; and c) To provide a platform for dialogue between CSOs and the existing human rights mechanisms of ASEAN, particularly the AICHR and the ACWC.
Check our website, Facebook and Twitter to follow the discussions and debates during the Regional Consultation.
