AGENDA DPO Interface Meeting and AICHR Regional Dialogue – Mainstreaming Rights of Persons with Disabilities

IFES Indonesia and the DFAT-funded General Election Network on Disability Access (AGENDA) have worked with election management bodies and civil society stakeholders to promote access to and inclusion in the electoral and political processes. One of AGENDA’s recent successes has been collaboration with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) on a Regional Action Plan to mainstream the rights of persons with disabilities.

From 1-3 December 2015, AICHR held its first regional dialogue on disability rights since the commission was founded in 2009. The 120 inter-governmental participants from all ASEAN countries were comprised of various ASEAN bodies and committees such as AICHR, the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC), senior government officials, academia and several disabled people’s organizations (DPOs).

The day prior to the AICHR Regional Dialogue, AGENDA and AICHR co-hosted a DPO interface meeting that gathered representatives from the disability communities across ASEAN countries. Participants in the 30 November 2015 event offered initial stakeholder input on the AICHR Regional Action Plan just prior to the intergovernmental AICHR Regional Dialogue on Mainstreaming the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the ASEAN Community. Please see the attached photo of the event.

The three-day AICHR Regional Dialogue focused on mapping the New ASEAN Vision 2025 and Blueprints of Three ASEAN Community Pillars and the introduction of the draft AICHR Regional Plan of Actions, with significant contributions from the DFAT-funded AGENDA network in Indonesia.

In the coming year, DFAT and AGENDA will support national dialogues in several countries in the region to discuss the results from the event in Bangkok and share the draft AICHR Plan of Action with a larger group of stakeholders in each country. AGENDA partners in each country will coordinate the national workshops in collaboration with the AICHR country representative, academia, government representatives and DPO leaders.