Bangkok Declaration on Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations

The Bangkok Declaration on Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations resulted from a recent Roundtable discussion convened by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) between civil society, UN Human Rights Council Mandate Holders, and National Human Rights Institutions in south-east Asia (the Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Philippines NHRIs, as well as the Indonesian Commission on Violence against Women), which was also attended by representatives of the governments of the Philippines and Indonesia. 

Importantly, the Declaration affirms the urgent need to advance the implementation of ETOs given the accelerating pace of economic, political, and social integration in the region and the corresponding increase in cross-border human rights violations. Further, it endorses the critical work being done by NHRIs in the region to promote and enforce the extraterritorial human rights obligations of governments; a particularly important achievement given the primacy of the principle of non-interference within ASEAN. Finally, the Declaration is timely given the renewed push for a binding international instrument on transnational corporations and human rights, in which ETOs are likely to play a key role. 

For more information please visit http://apwld.org/bangkok-declaration-on-extraterritorial-human-rights-obligations/

Download the Bangkok Declaration here. 

For further information on ETOs and related advocacy, also visit the ETO Consortium website at http://www.etoconsortium.org/