By Sen David | Khmer Times
Cambodia participated in the 40th meeting of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) from 11 to 14 February 2025, in Langkawi, Malaysia, achieving a fruitful result.
Pa Ponnarada, representing the Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC), participated in the meeting with representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat, and Timor-Leste as an observer country. The meeting was chaired by Edmund Bon Tai Soon, AICHR Chair for 2025.
According to a statement from the CHRC on Saturday, AICHR discussed the draft ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Rights; the draft ASEAN Declaration on the Promotion of Peace, Growth, Environment, Sustainable Development and the Right to Development, Business and Human Rights, Digital Rights; the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and the Right to Development and Progress of AICHR in the past.
AICHR also reviewed and discussed the draft five-year work plan for 2026-2030. The meeting also received updates on recent developments related to human rights within ASEAN, including the creation of new national laws, regulations and other developments.
AICHR also adopted a study on the right to peace, which aims to inspire peace efforts and promote a culture of peace and human rights.
The meeting also expressed appreciation to AICHR-Malaysia and the ASEAN Secretariat for organising the meeting well.
According to AICHR, Malaysia assumed the AICHR chairmanship for 2025, with Edmund Bon Tai Soon as Chair, highlighting the ASEAN chairmanship theme “Inclusivity and Sustainability” in the first 2025 meeting of AICHR. He emphasised the need for an ASEAN-led, ASEAN-owned, and whole-of-ASEAN approach to advance peace, inclusive growth, and sustainable development.
AICHR deliberated on the implementation of the previous five year work plan for 2021-2025 and its 2025 priority programmes, with a particular focus on thematic areas such as the environment, business and human rights, digital rights, countering human trafficking and violent extremism, rights of persons with disabilities, right to development, and implementation of human rights treaties that the ASEAN Member States are parties to, among others.
On institutional matters, AICHR discussed the overall assessment of its work over the past 15 years and its past self-assessments. These discussions aimed to formulate recommendations to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) on AICHR’s future priorities for the next five years.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501640921/cambodia-joins-aichr-40th-meeting-in-malaysia/. Archived at https://perma.cc/987K-JRMJ
