Report from FORUM-ASIA Webinar Series: The Status of Human Rights in ASEAN during COVID-19 Pandemic

This report summarises the proceedings of the webinar series. These include findings of research into the experiences of specific groups as well as recommendations to be conveyed to ASEAN and its Member States. Recommendations centre on the need to respect, protect and full human rights as provided in international treaties and other instruments, bearing in mind their intersectionality with other aspects during and post-pandemic. The report also includes further information and analysis from media, human rights reports and other sources including issues not covered in the webinar series due to limited amount of time.

The report concludes with a series of recommendations to ASEAN and its Member States, civil society, and the private sector on ways of ensuring the adoption of human rights-based approaches in countering the pandemic. Among other things, the report recommends providing AICHR and ACWC with active human rights monitoring and protection powers and a voice in any regional plans for post COVID-19 recovery and ensuring meaningful participation of civil society in the process. These recommendations were presented during the virtual town-hall meeting in June 20201, in conjunction with the 36th ASEAN Summit.

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For the full version in pdf of the report please click here