Singapore and Phnom Penh, 16 August 2011

More than 65 human rights and international law professionals from 18 countries participated in the Asian International Justice Initiative’s 2011 Summer Institute in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, which focused on issues related to the rights of women and children in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Civilian women and children are often the most vulnerable victims of violence and exploitation in times of conflict and humanitarian crises,” said David Cohen, director of the Asian International Justice Initiative, or AIJI – a collaboration between the East-West Center and the University of California-Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center. “We are especially gratified that our Summer Institute this year was able to provide critical training in contemporary policies and practices to promote and protect the rights of women and children.”

The course was taught from an interdisciplinary perspective, encompassing both rapidly evolving legal norms and contemporary practice in the field on critical issues such as trafficking. Participants, who included professionals working across a broad range of related fields, were encouraged to take a holistic perspective, considering political, historical and social factors that can both precipitate conflicts and lead to their successful resolution.

The Institute was presented by AIJI in partnership with the Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore, the Singapore Management University (SMU) School of Law, the International Institute for Child Rights and Development, and the Human Rights Resource Centre for ASEAN.

Held over a two-week period in July, the Institute began with seven days of course work in Singapore, and continued with four days of optional field experience in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Mr Richard Magnus, Singaporean Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), gave the opening keynote address.

Civilian women and children are often the most vulnerable victims of violence during conflicts, and are far more likely than male combatants to lose access to adequate health care, food, and water. Moreover, such problems often persist beyond the end of the conflict, as inadequate protection frameworks leave women and children vulnerable to exploitation by human traffickers and migrant labor markets.

The ASEAN Commission for Women and Children (ACWC) and AICHR, both established in 2009, have devoted unprecedented emphasis on the protection of women and children, and promotion of their rights, within Southeast Asia. In fact, more than half of the participants in this year’s Summer Institute were representatives to the ACWC from all over the region. Fourteen of these were supported in their attendance by the ASEAN Secretariat and the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development-funded ASEAN-US Technical Assistance and Training Facility (US-TATF).

The course began with a general introduction to the human rights of women and children in armed conflict as well as in peacetime, then focused in on such peacetime issues as human trafficking and response to humanitarian crises. Discussion was led by distinguished regional experts such as Prof Yanghee Lee and Dr Saisuree Chutikul.

The focus then turned to some of the challenges involved in efforts to protect women and children during armed conflict, including sessions covering child soldiers, sexual violence as a tool and consequence of war, and the struggles of internally displaced populations and refugees.

The final day of course work in Singapore, led by Amb. Ong Keng Yong of Singapore and Marzuki Darusman of Indonesia, focused on policy issues, particularly the role of regional commissions such as the ACWC and AICHR in helping to protect the rights of women and children throughout the region.

The twenty participants who joined the optional field trip to Phnom Penh had the opportunity to visit Cambodian governmental bodies, UN offices, and non-governmental organizations working on children rights and women’s rights issues in Cambodia. The trip also included a tour of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum guided by Mr Chum Mey, one of three remaining survivors of torture and incarceration in the former Khmer Rouge detention center.