ASEAN will not politicize human rights – ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting Chair

Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Chair of the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and Related Meetings, has assured stakeholders that ASEAN will not politicize human rights.

“ASEAN is placing a great importance to human rights, if I may add, without politicizing human rights,” Cayetano said during the sixth Interface of ASEAN Foreign Ministers and ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) Representatives Friday.

Cayetano assured AICHR Representatives of ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ support to promote and protect human rights in the region.

“The coming years will bring more challenges in the field of human rights as we aim to strengthen our ASEAN Community and engage the world more extensively,” he said.

Cayetano highlighted that since the establishment of AICHR in 2009, it has undertaken significant activities to promote and protect human rights in ASEAN like partnering with various stakeholders.

Cayetano noted that the AICHR now has 16 civil society organizations that contribute in achieving its mandate on human rights.

“We would like to see AICHR at forefront of making our ASEAN sectoral bodies and ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community pillars integrate a human rights perspective in their respective areas of work,” the foreign minister said.

“AICHR can count on the continued support of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers in its endeavors,” he added.

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