At the invitation of the co-organizers- the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute (Sweden), the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines and the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), U Nyunt Swe, Member of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) participated in the 13th Informal ASEM Seminar on Human Rights, held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 21 to 23 October 2013.
Over 140 international representatives from 48 ASEM member countries participated in the event and the topic of the seminar is “Human Rights and Environment”. At the Seminar, opening speech, on behalf of the Host, Kingdom of Denmark was made by Ms. Ida AUKEN, Danish Minister of the Environment. Professor John KNOX, United Nations Independent Expert on Human Rights and the Environment and Dr. Poul ENGBERG-PEDERSON, Managing Director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) were among the keynote speakers.
The Seminar discussed the key aspects of environmental protection and human rights, especially with regards to Asia and Europe. Discussion took place in four closed-door Working Groups, focusing on the following topic areas:-
(a) the Interaction between Sustainable Development, Environment and Human Rights;
(b) Access to Information, Participatory Rights and Access to Justice;
(c) Actors, Institutions and Governance;
(d) Climate Change and Human Rights Implications.
As the outcome of the Seminar, key messages and recommendations to the ASEM governments will be disseminated.