Cross-pillar collaboration on mainstreaming the rights of persons with disabilities in the ASEAN Community
JAKARTA, 19 April 2017 – ASEAN officials in-charge of human rights and social welfare, together with Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) met at the ASEAN Secretariat from 18 to 19 April 2017 for the second meeting of the Task Force on the Mainstreaming of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the ASEAN Community. ASEAN is building on the momentum from the implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, and the ratification by all ASEAN Member States of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), to realise a more inclusive and resilient ASEAN Community and robust cooperation and partnership between ASEAN sectoral bodies and stakeholders.
The Task Force is a joint undertaking of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), Senior Officials Meetings on Social Welfare and Development (SOMSWD) and the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC). This marks the first cross-pillar collaboration on disability rights between the ASEAN Political-Security Community and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.
It aims to develop a regional action plan which takes its foundation from existing ASEAN documents, namely the Bali Declaration on the Enhancement of the Role and Participation of the Persons with Disabilities in ASEAN Community and the Mobilisation Framework of the ASEAN Decade of Persons with Disabilities 2011-2020.
The Task Force agreed to learn from the experiences of ASEAN Member States by exchanging national action plans on persons with disabilities. The Task Force also agreed that there is a critical need to enhance collective efforts.
The ASEAN Disability Forum (ADF) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) shared with the Task Force the significance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in reinforcing the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities.
The Meeting was co-chaired by Dr. Seree Nonthasoot, Representative of Thailand to the AICHR and Dr. Mu’man Nuryana, SOMSWD Focal Point of Indonesia and the Chair of SOMSWD, with the support of the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF).
The next meeting of the Task Force is scheduled in May 2017.