The Asean Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) met for the first time today seeking to promote the well-being, development, empowerment and participation of women and children in the Asean Community building process.
The commission also promotes public awareness and education of their rights.
The 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.
It will also discuss how to align the ACWC with the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), the Asean Secretariat said in a statement Wednesday.
"The establishment of the ACWC is 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 Secretary-General of Asean Dr Surin Pitsuwan when opening the meeting.
Civil society organisations (CSOs) were engaged in the development of Commission's Terms of Reference and the selection of its representatives in some member states.
"If we wish to become a sharing and caring community, we have 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," said Dr Surin.
Each Asean member state has two representatives at the ACWC - one for women's rights and one for children's rights.
On Wednesday the meeting decided on the election of Kanda Vajrabhaya from Thailand and Ahmad Taufan Damanik from Indonesia as the Chair and Vice Chair of the ACWC respectively.
They will serve the Commission for three years.
