Sri Danti Anwar, Chairwoman of the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children, addresses the workshop in Hanoi on October 18 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Aworkshop on developing the results framework of the ASEAN Commission on thePromotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) Work Plan2016-2020 opened in Hanoi on October 18.
The event, organised by the Ministry of Labour,Invalids, and Social Affairs, the ASEAN Secretariat, the UN Women and the UNICEF,attracted 20 representatives on the rights of women and children from 10 ASEANmember countries. It was part of the sidelines activities of the third ASEANMinisterial Meeting on Women held in Vietnam.
Opening the workshop, ACWC Chairwoman Sri DantiAnwar said that since its inception, the ACWC has been actively working torealise the goals relating to women and children specified in the ASEANCharter, the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community, and the bloc’s other documents.
The ACWC Work Plan 2016-2020 focuses onimproving the commission’s institutional capacity; eradicating violence againstand the trafficking of women and children; promoting the right of children toparticipate in all affairs that affect them; promoting and protecting therights of women and children with disabilities; the child protection system;the right to early childhood and quality education; promoting implementation ofinternational, ASEAN, and other instruments related to the rights ofwomen and children; and the social impacts of climate change on women andchildren.
Other priorities include gender equality ineducation in terms of textbooks, the curriculum, and equal access;strengthening economic rights of women with regards to the feminisation ofpoverty, and women’s rights to land and property; adolescent physical andmental health; gender perspective in policies, strategies, and programmesfor migrant workers; gender mainstreaming; early marriage; and femaleparticipation in politics and decision making, governance, and democracy.
As of September 2018, 11 of the ACWC’sinitiatives and projects had been completed, with four others currently beingcarried out and another 25 being built.
At the workshop, participants assessed thecommission’s Work Plan, focusing on the strengths of and challenges to projectimplementation, along with solutions to those challenges. They also specifiedthe results expected when the ACWC Work Plan 2016-2020 is implemented and builta framework for evaluating the implementation.
The workshop will last through October 19. Itsoutcomes will be reported to the ACWC’s 17th meeting, slated for the followingday in Hanoi.–VNA
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