Working Group Submits Report to 2nd ASEAN Security Community Plan of Action Coordinating Conference

In a meeting with ASEAN senior officials on 24 July 2006 in Kuala Lumpur, the Working Group was encouraged to submit proposed directions for the first ASCCO.

The Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism (Working Group) will be submitting an update of its activities to the ASEAN as it holds its 2nd Security Community Plan of Action Coordinating Conference (ASCCO). The ASCCO is scheduled on 10-11 July 2007 at the ASEAN headquarters in Jakarta.

“We are encouraged by ASEAN’s continuing interest in and openness with the Working Group. We hope that our submission serves as a useful reference to ASEAN senior officials as they discuss further steps to strengthen the Security Community,” says Carlos P. Medina Jr., Working Group secretary-general.

The Working Group report details the resolutions of the Cambodian government and civil society to establish a national human rights commission, updates on the four human rights areas of the Vientiane Action Programme (VAP), results of the expert’s group meeting for the Mahidol University study on an ASEAN Commission on the Rights of Women and Children, and the upcoming 6th Workshop on the ASEAN Regional Mechanism on Human Rights. Read the complete Working Group submission on the occasion of the 2nd ASEAN Security Community Plan of Action Coordinating Conference.

This is the second submission for the Working Group. In a meeting with ASEAN senior officials on 24 July 2006 in Kuala Lumpur, the Working Group was encouraged to submit proposed directions for the first ASCCO. Prior to that, the Working Group was asked by the ASEAN to help in the implementation of the VAP’s human rights-related programs.