19 September 2013 - The Philippine Embassy in Dili reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that two officials of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) attended the 10th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institutions Forum (SEANF) held in Dili, Timor-Leste from September 10 to 11.
The delegates from the Philippine side were Atty. Jacqueline V. Mejia, CHR Executive Director; and Ms. Ma. Nerissa Navarro-Piamonte, CHR Director for Strategic Planning and Development.
Comprised of the human rights institutions of Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Timor-Leste, the SEANF aims to promote and advance human rights both at the domestic and regional levels.
Timor-Leste’s Provedoria dos Direitos Humanos e Justica (PDHJ) or the Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice served as the host and chair for this year’s SEANF meeting. PDHJ is currently headed by Dr. Sebastião Dias Ximenes.
Before their departure from Dili, the CHR officials called on and apprised Philippine Ambassador to Timor-Leste Maria Aileen H. Bugarin on the current thrusts and programs of the SEANF.
Noting that capacity-building is one of the centerpiece programs of SEANF, the Ambassador expressed her optimism that the bloc would also provide a platform to boost the existing technical cooperation between the CHR and PDHJ. In addition to regular exchange of visits, several staff of the PDHJ went to the Philippines for further training. Earlier, the CHR had also sent some of its officials to Timor-Leste to train the PDHJ staff on human rights investigation, surveillance and public information dissemination.
“Being an acknowledged leader on human rights issues in the region, the Philippines has a lot of best practices to share with Timor-Leste on the promotion, protection and management of human rights,” Ambassador Bugarin said. END