The ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights ofWomen and Children (ACWC) convened its 7th meeting in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia, from July 22-24, with the participation of ASEAN Member States(AMS).
According to the ACWC press release, the meeting finaliseddraft Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (VAW) andElimination of Violence Against Children (VAC) that addresses theconcern of VAW and VAC as obstacles to achieving equality, peace anddevelopment, and reflects the collective efforts of ASEAN to intensifyand strengthen policy, legal frameworks and institutional capacity tocounter VAW and VAC.
The ACWC reaffirmed its commitment toremove such obstacles in the context of strengthening regionalcooperation, collaboration, and coordination that endeavored toeliminate VAW and VAC by key measures, such as building adequateresourced national welfare systems, protection, recovery andrehabilitation of victims, promotion of legislation against VAW and VAC,protection of the right of women and children.
The Declarationalso highlighted the coverage of vulnerabilities and emerging forms ofabuse confronted by women and children such as conflict, migration,disaster, emergency situation, climate change, human trafficking, labor,cyber based abuses, persons with disabilities, statelessness andbelonging to ethnic and/or indigenous groups, saying these need to beaddressed.
The meeting recognised the contributions of AMS,sectoral bodies and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in providingrelevant inputs in enriching the Declaration period.
It furtheraccentuated the need for intensified collaboration and partnership amongAMS, CSOs, governments, and relevant institutions, both local andinternational, to effectively eliminate VAW and VAC.
The Declaration will be presented to the 23rd ASEAN Summit in October 2013 for adoption.
Delegates to the meeting also dealt with the progress of implementationof projects and activities led by AMS under the ACWC Work Plan2012-2016.
The 8th ACWC meeting will be held in early 2014 at the ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta, Indonesia.-VNA