ASEAN Human Rights Advocates Met in Malaysia

	Former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Dato' Musa Hitam and Dato' Param Lumanraswamy

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Dato’ Seri Syed Hamid Albar reiterated the Malaysian support for an ASEAN regional mechanism on human rights. His remarks were made in Kuala Lumpur on 29/30 June during a regional human rights workshop co-sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.

The Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was host and co-organizer of the fifth workshop by the Regional Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism. In his opening remarks, the Minister explained that “Malaysia has been cognizant of the need for a regional mechanism and has been supportive of the initiative to establish one such mechanism. The Working Group’s tireless efforts for more than a decade have afforded its organization respect and recognition, and have assured its workshops and activities attention and consideration.”

The Minister expressed his hope that “the mechanism could be an avenue for developing and establishing programmes within ASEAN for mutual support and assistance in the development of a strategy for strengthening the rule of law, judiciary systems and legal infrastructure, contributing to effective and efficient civil services and good governance in public and private sectors.”

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation has been supporting the Regional Working Group ever since its inception in 1994. Since 1996, the Working Group has been a consistent dialogue partner of the ASEAN Senior Officials to push for the setting-up of a regional human rights institution. The efforts of the Working Group include annual workshops for a regional mechanism on human rights in ASEAN since 2001.

The fifth annual workshop in Kuala Lumpur focused on the implementation of the human rights related programmes in the ASEAN Vientiane Action Programme (2004-2010). These mainly include efforts for

 • the establishment of a commission on the promotion and protection of the rights of women and children,
 • the elaboration of an ASEAN instrument on the promotion and protection of the rights of migrant workers, and
 • the promotion of education and public awareness on human rights in the region.

The workshop was attended by ASEAN government officials, NGOs, representatives from the academe, and members of national human rights institutions. It was co-organised by the Regional Working Group together with the Malaysian Foreign Ministry, SUHAKAM and the Centre for ASEAN Studies at UiTM.

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