Asean CSR

Susanne Zwingel, Associate Professor, Dept. of Politics and International Relations, INR Graduate Program Director of the Florida International University would like to share an online resource that she has put together with the help of her students: a collection of domestic use of CEDAW, available here: http://libguides.fiu.edu/cedaw_impact

All of these sources document how diverse actors, including governments and civil society organizations, have used CEDAW at home. As you will see, sometimes this use is direct, sometimes more an "ingredient" in broader strategies. The organization of the collection is alphabetically per country, and within each country, the newest sources come first. Some (but not all) of the sources can be accessed directly online. 

The article discusses the following points:

1) The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a new force shaping the global economic order, serving as China’s grand strategy to project its global influence and leadership role through economic and cultural diplomacy.

2) Cambodia enthusiastically supports the initiative, mainly for economic reasons, especially its infrastructure development and production-capacity cooperation elements.

3) BRI is complementary to Cambodia’s national development strategy as it can strengthen the country’s economic competitiveness by diversifying the sources of growth and expanding its economic horizon.

4) However, Cambodia needs to strengthen its governance to maximize opportunities, and the participation of the private sector in infrastructure projects remains limited. Another challenge is the lack of transparency and local community participation.

This article discusses the following:

1) Simplifying and streamlining trade processes reduces trade costs and increases the potential for trade especially in developing countries.

2) The WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement and ASEAN’s trade facilitation measures both seek to improve trade processes among member states. While the TFA focuses on customs processes, ASEAN’s measures are broader in coverage.

3) The ASEAN Trade Repository, ASEAN Single Window and ASEAN Customs Transit System will benefit from a commitment by ASEAN member states to implement similar measures in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.  ASEAN member states can utilize the assistance and support of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement in the implementation of their ASEAN commitments.

To read the full article on the ISEAS website, click here.