ASEAN Commission on Women’s Rights Debuts

The ASEAN Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) was officially established in Hanoi on April 7, with 20 members from 10 ASEAN nations taking part.    

Speaking at the ceremony, Vietnam’s Prime Minister and Chair of ASEAN 2010 Nguyen Tan Dung, said that the setting up of the ACWC reflected the aspirations of ASEAN’s leaders as stated in the 2004 Vientiane Action Programme, the roadmap for building the ASEAN Community from 2009-2015 based on the three pillars of politics-security, economics and socio-cultural issues and narrowing the development gap.     
“The move will also contribute to realising the theme of ASEAN 2010 which is, Towards the ASEAN Community: From Vision to Action,” said the PM.      
The formation of the ACWC is considered an important measure that will help to increase social welfare and promote the participation of women and children from the region when building the ASEAN Community.     
The meeting discussed carrying out the ASCC’s master plan, the deployment of the community’s plans in the near future and debating and defining priorities for 2010 whilst adopting a number of documents related to the ASCC’s activities.