MALAYSIA LEADS AICHR IN SHAPING FUTURE HUMAN RIGHTS PLAN

KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 (Bernama) -- The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) is in the final stages of drafting its Five-Year Work Plan (2026-2030), aimed at strengthening the protection and promotion of human rights across Southeast Asia, amid evolving regional and global challenges.

Chair of AICHR and Malaysia’s Representative to AICHR, Edmund Bon Tai Soon, said the new work plan, once finalised, would serve as a strategic framework guiding AICHR’s activities over the next five years, in line with the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 and various Strategic Plans of Action under the ASEAN framework.

He said that the rapidly changing global landscape has made it imperative for the new work plan to address emerging non-traditional security threats such as artificial intelligence (AI), climate change, forced migration, statelessness, and refugee crises, all of which have significant human rights implications.

“This work plan is very important because it will shape the direction and future of human rights in the region. 

“It forms part of the ASEAN architecture, and once adopted, it will be submitted to the ASEAN foreign ministers at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) this July in Kuala Lumpur," he told reporters here on Tuesday. 

Bon said the new plan would also focus on strengthening AICHR’s institutional capacity and governance, enhancing cooperation with national bodies, and ensuring better policy implementation and monitoring, while respecting the ASEAN Way of consensus and non-interference.

He also stressed the importance of securing political will across ASEAN member states as well as to mainstream human rights into ASEAN sectoral bodies in order to ensure success and continuity of human rights initiatives beyond Malaysia’s chairmanship.

Meanwhile, the programme director for the Secretariat for the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, Maria Paula Villarin, in welcoming Malaysia’s leadership, expressed optimism that the new work plan would include stronger measures for transparency, civil society engagement, and structured communication mechanisms.

She highlighted that despite operating informally, the Working Group has been advocating for a credible human rights mechanism in ASEAN since 1996, working closely with various ASEAN bodies, including AICHR, the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM), and the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM).

Villarin noted that one area that needed urgent improvement was the transparency of AICHR’s proceedings, including in making its report public.

She also called for the strengthening of AICHR’s "communications mechanism", a process that enables individuals, groups, or organisations to submit reports on human rights violations for AICHR’s consideration, which is an initiative that is still in discussion. 

Villarin said civil society organisations (CSOs), especially those without consultative status, must be included in regional dialogues to ensure that policies reflect ground realities.

“AICHR can play a vital role as a bridge between grassroots CSOs and ASEAN policymakers. We acknowledge that decision-making at AICHR requires consensus, but creating more spaces for dialogue would strengthen the legitimacy of ASEAN’s human rights initiatives,” she told  Bernama.

She expressed hope that Malaysia’s proactive leadership would set a strong precedent for future AICHR chairs to continue building more open and inclusive mechanisms.

“Malaysia’s leadership is a good start. But the real test is whether future representatives will continue to push for greater participation, transparency, and protection of human rights. That is the hope embedded in this work plan,” she added. 

The final draft of the AICHR Five-Year Work Plan (2026-2030) is expected to be completed by May or June before being presented to ASEAN Foreign Ministers at the upcoming AMM in July.

-- BERNAMA