ASEAN Urged To Infuse Gender Lens In Human Rights Agenda

Barnama

2 days ago

PETALING JAYA, June 30 -- Chair of AICHR and Malaysia’s Representative to AICHR, Edmund Bon Tai Soon, speaking to the media after chairing The AICHR Regional Workshop on Gender Lens Perspective on Business and Human Rights in ASEAN at Courtyard Kuala Lumpur South, today. -- fotoBERNAMA (2025) COPYRIGHT RESERVED
By Muhammad Fawwaz Thaqif Nor Afandi
KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 (Bernama) -- 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 while ASEAN has progressed in promoting gender equality, the women across the region still face structural barriers that prevent their full participation in decision making and economic life.
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'Business and human rights are not solely about trade regulations or governance, but it impacts 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 at the Regional Workshop on Gender Lens Perspective on Business and Human Rights in ASEAN here on Monday.
He 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.