Jakarta(VNA) – The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), in collaboration with the EuropeanUnion (EU), has recently convened a regional consultation on business and humanrights, environment and climate change.
Conductedin a hybrid format in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the two-day consultation aims to supportASEAN’s endeavour to strengthen its policies and regional collaboration inorder to achieve sustainable recovery, while simultaneously protecting humanrights and the environment.
In his welcome remarks on May 29, AishahBidin, Representative of Malaysia to AICHR said that the issue of climate change is a major concern to ASEAN, as Southeast Asiais one of the most at-risk regions in the world to the impacts of climatechange.
For his part, Igor Driesmans, the EUAmbassador to ASEAN, affirmed that being one of the world’sfastest-growing areas, ASEAN region continues to attract internationalinvestment, including from Europe.
Accordingto Driesmans, economic growth must be balancedwith the protection of the planet and citizens, a top priority of the EU-ASEANStrategic Partnership.
In his keynote, Ian Fry, UN SpecialRapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change highlighted the key principles inadvancing a human-rights based approach in the context of climate change./.