This is the first time AICHR ever published its Annual Report to the public. AICHR already submitted this report to the AMM during AICHR Special Meeting, 23 – 24 July in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The report covers the period between July 2015 and June 2016.
This Annual Report covers the period between July 2015 and June 2016.
The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) convened six AICHR Meetings, which included Special Meetings, and organised a series of activities in line with the annual Priority Programmes/Activities 2015/2016 for the period under review. In 2015, the AICHR convened workshops on ASEAN legal instruments on human rights, environment and climate change, rights of persons with disabilities, and trafficking in persons (TIP). The AICHR also held two regional events involving youths from all ten ASEAN Member States (AMS) to raise awareness of human rights among the young people of the region.
In support of the work of other ASEAN Sectoral Bodies dealing with human rights issues, the AICHR and the Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC) co-organised a Workshop on the “Human Rights-based Approach to Combat Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children” in November 2015.
On the external relations front, the AICHR, together with the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC), the ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW), and the ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (ACMW) met with the European Union for the first ASEAN-EU Policy Dialogue on Human Rights.
Another notable progress in the work of the AICHR include the operationalization of the Guidelines on AICHR’s Relations with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and the granting of ‘Consultative Relationship’ status to eleven organisations. A new thematic study on women affected by natural disasters has commenced and is due for completion in 2017.
The AICHR has embarked on their second Five-Year Work Plan 2016-2020 with emphasis on a programmatic approach and regularisation of activities, for example, the second phase of the programme on the mainstreaming of the rights of persons with disabilities. The beginning of 2016 saw a transition in the AICHR with eight new Representatives to the AICHR – from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Viet Nam – assuming office.
In line with the recommendation of the High Level Task Force (HLTF) on Strengthening the ASEAN Secretariat and Reviewing the ASEAN Organs, the unit in the ASEAN Secretariat supporting the AICHR, now renamed as the Human Rights Division, moved from the ASEAN Community and Corporate Affairs Department (CCAD) to the ASEAN Political-Security Community Department (APSC) to provide dedicated support to the AICHR.
The full report is available for download here
Source : www.aichr.org
