18th AICOHR

18th ASEAN-ISIS Colloquium on Human Rights

Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Migrant Workers, Women and Children in ASEAN:

Perspectives from the State and Civil Society

12-13 November 2011

Edsa Shangri-la Hotel, Mandaluyong City

Background

On 13 January 2007 at the 12th ASEAN Summit held in Cebu, The Philippines, the ASEAN member-states signed the Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers. This declaration recognizes the contribution of migrant workers to the progress of the ASEAN economies, and outlines the obligations of both sending and receiving states within ASEAN. A Committee on the Implementation of this Declaration mandated to explore all avenues to achieve its objectives, and to facilitate the promotion and protection of the rights of migrant workers has also been established in 2007.

The ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) was inaugurated on 7 April 2010. This Commission seeks to “promote the well-being, development, empowerment and participation of women and children in the ASEAN Community-building process which contribute to the realization of the purposes of ASEAN as set out in the ASEAN Charter.” Prior to the establishment of this Commission, ASEAN had also adopted the Declaration on the Advancement of Women in the ASEAN Region in May 1988, and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in the ASEAN Region in June 2004. These declarations, and the fact that all ten ASEAN member-states are parties to the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, attest to ASEAN’s commitment to further women’s and children’s rights in the region.

However, the existence of trafficking in women and children, reported incidents of unfair treatment towards migrant workers, and the disconnect between the relevant UN documents cited above, ASEAN declarations, and the domestic legislation of ASEAN member-states point to gaps that clearly must be addressed with regard to the promotion and protection of migrant workers’, women’s and children’s rights in the region.

Objectives

The Eighteenth ASEAN ISIS Colloquium on Human Rights (AICOHR) seeks the following objectives:

1. To provide a venue for examining feasible ways by which human rights networks in Southeast Asia can locate their advocacy roles for migrants’, women’s and children’s rights within the context of the ASEAN Charter, and the ASEAN Inter Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), as well as the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC).

2. To generate perspectives from human rights advocates, representatives from national human rights commissions, and participants from research networks in ASEAN member-states on the promotion and protection of the rights of migrant workers, women, and children in Southeast Asia.

3. To generate policy recommendations to relevant ASEAN bodies relating to the promotion and protection of the rights of migrant workers, women and children in the ASEAN region.

4. To contribute to the regional debates, discussions and conversations to promote and protect human rights in general and in particular the rights of migrant workers, women and children as an input to the building of an ASEAN Community.

Implementation

The meeting was held at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel on 12-13 November 2011. It was organized by the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies, Inc. (ISDS Philippines) for the ASEAN Institutes of Strategic and International Studies (ASEAN-ISIS).