Derechos: Human Rights Listings

Established in January 2006, the ACHR has been actively involved in research and education on human rights in an attempt to establish a regional human rights mechanism in Asia. The First Forum on Child Labour and Child Trafficking held in Seoul, February of last year attracted national attention, which lead to media coverage and public discourse on the issue. Professor Heo, Director of ACHR, said that the ACHR is taking the initiative towards establishing a regional human rights mechanism in order to protect and promote human rights at the regional level.

By adopting a thematic approach to establishing a regional human rights protection system, the Second Forum attempts to address commercial sexual exploitation of children which, with the rapid growth of Information Technology and ease of overseas travel, has dramatically increased throughout Asia and the Pacific.

In response to the growing problem of commercial sexual exploitation of children in Asia, the Second Forum has invited representatives from the governments of South Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia, the Philippines, Australia and, as well as regional organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGO). More than two hundred people from embassies, relevant organizations, human rights NGOs, students and the general public have already registered to attend.

The forum will commence with the opening address by Man-ho Heo, Director of the Asia Center for Human Rights at 10 am followed by congratulatory remarks from Hakjoon Kim, President of Dong-A Ilbo and Younghee Choi, Chairperson of the South Korean National Youth Commission. The keynote speaker will be Homayoun Alizadeh, the Regional Representative for Southeast Asia at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. He will speak about OHCHR’s role in Supporting ASEAN human rights mechanism.

The first session will begin with a theme on Child Sex Tourism at 11:00 am with moderator Kyung-seo Park, Ambassador at Large for Human Rights of Korea. The speakers for this session will be Kyung Ai Kim, President of ECPAT Korea; David Wildman, Senior Liaison Officer of Australian Federal Police in the Hong Kong office; and Att. M Victoria Jasmin, Director of Office of Tourism Standards in the Philippines. A discussion will be led by Ito Kazuko, Secretary General of Human Rights Now and a lawyer in Japan.

The second session will be moderated by Heisoo Shin, a member of UN CEDAW and Commissioner of the South Korean National Human Rights Commission, and start after screening the documentary film, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (UNICEF). The session will focus on Child Pornography on the Internet and the speakers will be Carmen M. Madriñán, Executive Director of Ecpat International and

Beverly Jones, Social Affairs Officer of the Gender and Development Section at UN-ESCAP. Rentsendorj Oyunbileg, a member of the Ecpat Mongolia Network, will participate as a discussant.

The topic for the last session will be Regional Framework for Preventing Children from Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. This will be addressed in the speech given by Vitit Muntarbhorn, Professor of Law, Chulalongkorn University / UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK / former UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. The speech will be followed by a round table discussion among three representative discussants from South Korea, Mongolia and Taiwan. They will respond to the first two sessions and discuss challenges faced in their own countries and areas of possible regional co-operation for combating commercial sexual exploitation of children.

The representative speakers of the final discussion will be Jeon Hyock Hee, Director General of the Youth Protection Bureau at the South Korean National Youth Commission; Baljinnyam Javzankhuu, Advisor to the Mongolian Deputy Prime Minister; and Ko Yi-Fen, Public Prosecutor of the Department of Prosecutorial Affair at the Taiwanese Ministry of Justice.

This event is open to the public. Simultaneous interpretation (English and Korean) will be provided. The participation fee is 20,000 KRW. As it is necessary to register in advance, please go to our website below for a registration form and a detailed agenda of the conference:

http://www.achumanrights.org/asia_HR_Forum/2nd/timetable.html

Sunyoung Hwang
Junior Programme Officer
The Asia Center for Human Rights (ACHR)
4th Fl.Shim Ji Bldg. 10-22 Gyobuk-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea 110-090
Tel: +82-2-723-1673
Fax: +82-2-723-1671
www.achumanrights.org