COUNTRIES OF ASIA-PACIFIC REGION TO DISCUSS NATIONAL PLANS OF ACTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AT BANGKOK WORKSHOP

HR/99/65
2 July 1999





The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is organizing a workshop on developing national plans of action for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Asia and Pacific region in Bangkok, Thailand, from 5 to 7 July 1999.

The workshop, being held in cooperation with the Government of Thailand, will bring together representatives of governments, national institutions, regional organizations and non-governmental organizations from the region. This is the first regional initiative of its kind, and it follows on the recommendation of the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights calling upon each State to consider the desirability of drawing up a national action plan to improve the promotion and protection of human rights.

The Bangkok workshop aims to: identify the central and common purposes of national plans of action; formulate strategies, based on lessons learned from prior practical experience which best serve to ensure the creation of a comprehensive, effective and sustainable action plan, including strategies for implementation and national evaluation; and identify the key components and priorities of a plan.

A series of annual workshops on regional arrangements in the Asia-Pacific region has given priority to the development of national plans of action for human rights. In particular, Governments in the region at the 1998 Teheran Workshop identified national human rights action plans as a key area to facilitate possible regional arrangements in the future.

OHCHR strongly supports the adoption of national action plans in the field of human rights. High Commissioner Mary Robinson views such plans as having a key role in incorporating international human rights standards at the national level. "Their development", she says, "reflects a willingness on the part of countries to translate into concrete action commitments to the full enjoyment of human rights. It is hoped that conclusions and recommendations from the workshop will be considered by countries in other regions and be of value to future activities world wide in the development of national plans of action".

Justice P.N. Bhagwati, representing the High Commissioner, will open the workshop, along with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra.

For further information please contact Lauren Matthews at OHCHR on (41 22) 917 9342.