ASEAN Holds Ad Hoc Working Group Meeting on the Creation of Regional Framework on Environmental Rights

ASEAN held the Ad Hoc Working Group Meeting in the Creation of Regional Framework on Environmental Rights. Photo from AICHR Thailand.

BANGKOK 13 December 2022 - The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) convened an interim working group for the creation of an ASEAN Environmental Rights Working Group which will look into an enabling framework for environmental rights in Southeast Asia last 22-23 November 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The envisioned ASEAN Environmental Rights Working Group will be composed of relevant ASEAN Sectoral Bodies, United Nations Agencies, and concerned individuals, groups, and stakeholders. The Working Group will facilitate exchange of information, identify issues and challenges, prepare recommendations and strategic guidance, work with key stakeholders, among others.

During the Meeting, Philippine Representative to AICHR and Deputy Assistant Secretary Aileen S. Mendiola-Rau provided a synthesis of the state of environmental rights in ASEAN as well as the best practices that can be incorporated in a declaration on environmental rights.

“The framework on environmental rights should include both substantive as well as procedural rights,” she emphasized.

In the discussions regarding the timeline and work plan of the working group, she stressed that “while the timeframe is ambitious, it could be realistic with the support of all the stakeholders.”

The Working Group is expected to meet again in the first quarter of 2023 for the preparation of the first draft negotiation document on the regional framework. END