Armed with a position paper, the heads of the ASEAN commissions met with the members of the High level Task Force in Bali, Indonesia last June 27, 2007, while the latter was having its consultation meeting to draft the ASEAN Charter.

In their position paper, the four commissions recommended the following:

• inclusion of the principles of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms;
• inclusion of a provision on the importance of the role of NHRIs in the promotion of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and should therefore be engaged in the realization of such principles;
• inclusion of a provision on the importance of the establishment of NHRIs in Member States of ASEAN, which have not done so; and,
• importance of the establishment of an appropriate ASEAN Human Rights Mechanisms.

They also appealed for support on these matters by the Eminent Persons Group through the High Level Task Force.

The position paper was one of the outputs of the Third Consultation Meeting of the ASEAN Human Rights Commissions held in Bali, Indonesia from June 26-28, 2007.

Attachments:

Position Paper on the ASEAN Charter

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