Focus on ASEAN
Working with FORUM-Asia, SEARCH has developed civil society partnerships such as the Solidarity for Asian People's Advocacy (SAPA) to respond to the openness of ASEAN to work together to create 'a platform for engagement' as requested from civil society by the former ASEAN Secretary General, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, in February 2008, with SAPA, established the ASEAN Peoples' Center in Jakarta on Jan to link civil society and vulnerable groups with the ASEAN Secretariat and supported 42 training and awareness raising events for 1,504 civil society representatives.
Through the Working Group, SEARCH has provided dialogue and policy input establishing the AIHCR, participated in the ASEAN High Level Panel creating the ASEAN Charter and the TORS for this ASEAN human rights body, and facilitated twenty-two Southeast Asian regional roundtables/ workshops for 1,124 participants.
Working Group dialogue with ASEAN and its human rights bodies has also contributed to draft terms of reference for the Technical Working Group Meeting of the ASEAN National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) Forum (to finalize the proposed Terms of Reference for the ASEAN Human Rights Commission and the ten joint projects prioritized for implementation), an agreement with Vietnam's Foreign Minister to create a Vietnamese National Human Rights Commission and development of an action plan for establishment of an NHRI in Cambodia and ongoing policy input into the ACWC (ASEAN Committee on Women and Children).