KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — Asean must step up its efforts to incorporate gender perspectives into the business and human rights agenda to ensure inclusive regional development.
Malaysia’s Representative to the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) Edmund Bon Tai Soon said that while Asean has progressed in promoting gender equality, women across the region still face structural barriers that prevent their full participation in decision-making and economic life.
“Business and human rights are not solely about trade regulations or governance, but they impact people, especially women and girls, and those from vulnerable and marginalised communities whose voices have often been excluded from decision-making.
“These barriers remain deeply entrenched in our societies and too often, business structures and practices appear gender-neutral, but continue to reinforce inequality in effect,” he said in his remarks during the Regional Workshop on Gender Lens Perspective on Business and Human Rights in Asean at the Courtyard Kuala Lumpur South Hotel today.
Bon emphasised that gender discrimination in business settings remains both a cause and a consequence of broader inequality, particularly for women and girls, and should be recognised as a form of violence.
“We see on our TV screens, we see in the media, news about war and genocides, that is actual violence, that is physical violence, that is something that we are against.
“But structural and cultural discrimination is also a form of violence, and I think that is something that we need to localise,” he said.
Bon added that Asean must ensure its frameworks reflect the lived realities of women and girls in line with international standards such as the United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on Business and Human Rights.
“As global standards such as the UNGPs continue to shape international expectations and up-and-coming regulations to reflect, Asean must also evolve to ensure that our frameworks reflect the lived realities of women and girls in our region and that they are not treated as an afterthought in economic growth,” he said.
The two-day regional workshop, held in Kuala Lumpur from June 30 to July 1, aimed to explore how a regional gender lens framework can help address gender-based barriers, tackle structural and cultural discrimination, and enhance the protection of the human rights of women and girls.
It was jointly supported by Asean member states through the AICHR Fund, the government of Japan via the Japan-Asean Integration Fund (JAIF), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with relevant Malaysian ministries and agencies, as well as the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).
— Bernama
