ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations [to 24 October 2015]
http://www.asean.org/news
[We generally limit coverage to regional and global level initiatives, recognizing that a number of country-level announcements are added each week]

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Press Release of the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children
MAKATI, 22 October 2015 – The Eleventh Meeting of the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) was convened on 18 20 October 2015 in Makati, the Philippines.

The Meeting reviewed the Terms of Reference of ACWC, and implementation of the Work Plan 2012-2016 including the three on-going thematic studies. The Regional Study on Child Protection System under the UN CRC Implementation in ASEAN Member States led by Indonesia is currently on-going. The preliminary draft Report, which was considered by the Meeting, provides an analysis on the characteristics of the child protection systems in ASEAN Member States including the legal framework, programmes, and resources.

The regional assessment on the laws, policies and practices within ASEAN Member States relating to the identification and treatment of victims of trafficking, especially women and children, is on-going under the coordination of Lao PDR. The regional consultant, national researchers and regional project coordination had been recruited and met on 16-17 October 2015 in Makati to discuss the national research plan including national report outline, methodology, guiding questions and timeline for incountry data gathering in ASEAN Member States in November 2015.

The draft Progress Report on Women’s Rights, Empowerment and Gender Equality was reviewed by the ACWC. The draft Report was scheduled for completion and launching on 8 March 2016 in time of the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN. The study reviews the progress in advancing women’s political, economic and social rights at regional and national levels…