Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in the ASEAN Region
The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei Darussalam, the Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Union of Myanmar, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam;
RECALLING the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in its Resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993, and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women;
CONCERNED that violence against women is an obstacle to the achievement of equality, development and peace, as embodiedin the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted in September 1995 by the Fourth World Conference on Women and reiterated in the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century”;
DESIRING to intensify the aims and purposes of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) of 1967, the Declaration of ASEAN Concord of 1976, the Manila Declaration of 1987, the Declaration of the Advancement of Women in the ASEAN Region of 1988 and the Ha Noi Plan of Action of 1998;
RECOGNISING that violence against women both violates and impairs their human rights and fundamental freedoms, limits their access to and control of resources and activities, and impedes the full development of their potential;
DO HEREBY DECLARE THAT:
In the context of strengthening regional cooperation, collaboration and coordination for the purpose of eliminating violence against women in the region, each Member Country, either individually or collectively, in ASEAN shall endeavour to fully implement the goals and commitments made related to eliminating violence against women and monitor their progressas follows:
1. 1.To encourage greater regional and bilateral cooperation in the systematic research, collection, analysis and dissemination of data, including disaggregated by sex, age, and other relevant information, on the extent, nature and consequences of violence against women and girls, and on the impact and effectiveness of policies and programmes for combating violence against women;
1. 2.To promote an integrated and holistic approach to eliminate violence against women by formulating mechanisms focusing on the four areas of concerns of violence against women, namely, providing services to fulfill the needs of survivors, formulating and taking appropriate responses to offenders and perpetrators, understanding the nature and causes of violence against women and changing societal attitudes and behaviour;’
1. 3.To encourage gender mainstreaming to eliminate all forms of violence against women through policies and programmes as well as systems, procedures and processes;
1. 4.To enact and, where necessary, reinforce or amend domestic legislation to prevent violence against women, to enhance the protection, healing, recoveryand reintegrationof victims/survivors, including measures to investigate, prosecute, punish and where appropriate rehabilitate perpetrators, and prevent re-victimisation of women and girls subjected to any form of violence, whether in the home, the workplace, the community or society or in custody;
1.5.To take all necessary measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and to empower women and strengthen their economic independence and to protect and promote the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in order to allow women and girls to protect themselves against violence;
1.6.To intensify efforts to develop and/or improve existinglegislative, educational, social measures and support servicesaimed at the prevention of violence against women, including adoption and monitoring the implementation of laws, the dissemination of information, active involvement with community-based players, and the training of legal, judicial, enforcement officers, social workers and health personnel;
1.7.To strengthen collaboration between and among countries, through bilateral, regional and international cooperation for resource mobilisation and technical exchange programmes, including sharing of best practices and experience in raising awareness, developing advocacy programmes on preventing and tackling violence against women;
1.8 To support initiatives undertaken by women’s organisations and non-governmental and community-based organisations on the elimination of violence against women and to establish and/or strengthen networking as well as collaborative relationships with these organisations, and with public and private sector institutions.
DONE in Jakarta, Indonesia, this Thirtieth day of June in the Year Two Thousand and Four, in one single copy in English.
For Brunei Darussalam
Masna
Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs
For the Kingdom of Cambodia
HOR Namhong
Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
For the Republic of Indonesia
Dr. N. Hassan Wirajuda
Minister for Foreign Affairs
For the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Somsavat Lengsavad
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs
For Malaysia
Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar
Minister of Foreign Affairs
For the Union of Myanmar
Win Aung
Minister for Foreign Affairs
For the Republic of the Philippines
Delia Domingo Albert
Secretary of Foreign Affairs
For the Republic of Singapore
Prof. S. Jayakumar
Minister for Foreign Affairs
For the Kingdom of Thailand
Dr. Surakiart Sathirathai
Minister of Foreign Affairs
For the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
Nguyen Dy Nien
Minister of Foreign Affairs
