"The establishment of the ACWC was very much welcomed not only by governments of the ASEAN member states, but also by regional and international communities, including human rights defenders and democracy advocates worldwide," said ASEAN Secretary-General Dr Surin Pitsuwan when opening the meeting.
Surin added that if ASEAN wished to become a sharing and caring community, then it had to take care of the women and children. "We have to open up the space so that they feel ownership of ASEAN community-building efforts," Surin was quoted as saying in a press release of ASEAN Secretariat.
The ACWC seeks to promote the well-being, development, empowerment and participation of women and children in the ASEAN Community building process. It would also promote public awareness and education of their rights.
Agenda for the three-day meeting includes the development of ACWC`s rules of procedure; its five-year work plan, including priority areas and initial activities; and the election of the Commission`s Chair and Vice Chair.
The meeting will also discuss how to align the ACWC with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). The latter is the overarching institution responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights in ASEAN.
Each of the 10 ASEAN member state has two representatives at the ACWC - one for women`s rights and one for children`s rights.
The first-day meeting had decided the election of Kanda Vajrabhaya from Thailand and Ahmad Taufan Damanik from Indonesia as the Chair and Vice-Chair of the ACWC. In accordance with the Commission`s Terms of Reference, they will serve the Commission for three years.
KR-VFT/HAJM/H-YH
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
