RI to hold workshop on rights mechanism

RI to hold workshop on rights mechanism

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia -- the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- and the Regional Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism will host a workshop to identify actions and steps toward the realization of an ASEAN Regional Mechanism on Human Rights, in Jakarta, the organizers said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The two-day meeting the "Fourth Workshop on the ASEAN Regional Mechanism on Human Rights" will be jointly opened on Thursday by Marty A. Natalegawa, director-general for ASEAN cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Regional Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism's co-chairperson Marzuki Darusman.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda will deliver his keynote address at the meeting, which is to be attended by government officials, human rights activists, non-governmental organizations and scholars from the 10 ASEAN member countries, the statement said.

The issues of migrant workers' protection, the trafficking of women and children, and the promotion and protection of human rights within the context of the ASEAN Security Community (ASC) are among those that will be discussed at the workshop.

The ASC concept was initiated by Indonesia as a means of handling security matters and disputes through a regional framework, rather than bilaterally or via an international forum.

At a gathering in Hanoi in 1993, ASEAN Ministers issued a Joint Communique on the need for ASEAN to set up a mechanism on human rights.

Since then, ASEAN has held three workshops on the issue. The first was in Jakarta in 2001, followed by a workshop in Manila in 2002, and in Bangkok in 2003.