The ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in partnership with the Philippine government launched the ASEAN Inclusive Business Awards. Under the Special Awards category of the ASEAN Business Awards (ABA), it is the first in the region to recognize innovative businesses creating social impact. Nominations are already on-going until 31st May 2017.
ASEAN CSR Network (ACN) is now a key partner of a newly-launched Regional Programme on Human Rights and Sustainable Development, which will be implemented from 2017 to 2021. Led by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) – a Swedish research institution with a global presence in more than 40 countries – the regional programme will focus on the strengthening of human rights, gender equality and the environment in Asia. ACN will lead in private sector engagement, holding capacity building programmes for companies, while partners such as UNDP and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) focus on similar training for National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI), judges and lawyers. A key outcome of the programme is also to empower academics in Asia to deliver high quality, evidence-based research which can better inform policy decisions. More information on the programme will be shared soon.
It has been a positive start for ASEAN’s efforts to combat trafficking in persons in 2017, marked by the ratification of the regional convention against trafficking in persons by two more ASEAN Member States. Viet Nam and Myanmar deposited their Instruments of Ratification of the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons. For more information, please refer to the full article found here.
