Various efforts have been made in recent years to promote the rights and equal opportunities of persons with disabilities and improve policies and regulations in all spheres of a people-centered and people-oriented ASEAN Community. One of them is the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) Regional Dialogues on the Mainstreaming of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the ASEAN Community, which have been implemented with the support from the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) and other dialogue partners. The AICHR Regional Dialogues have been conducted since 2015 with the most recent Dialogue held in December 2021. Discussions at the Regional Dialogues contributed to the development and implementation of the ASEAN Enabling Masterplan 2025: Mainstreaming the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted at the 33rd ASEAN Summit in 2018. Dr. Arunee Limmanee from Thailand and Ms. Metta Thippawong from Lao PDR are the participants in the 2019 AICHR Regional Dialogue on the Mainstreaming of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the ASEAN Community (Gender Perspectives on Disability Rights) who shared their experiences from the Dialogue, the current status of human rights of persons with disabilities in their respective countries, and their hopes for the future. Arunee Limmanee, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Administration at Thammasat University, also serves as Advisor to the Association of the Physically Handicapped of Thailand (APHT) and the Chair of the Department of Children, Youth and Women with Disabilities at Disabilities Thailand (DTH). Being physically disabled herself, she has been volunteering as an advocate for access to transportation for people with disabilities since her student days. After obtaining her master’s degree in social work in the United States, she became a staff member of the APHT, promoting human rights of persons with disabilities on a daily basis by helping the mobility impaired, physically disabled, especially social minorities, and people with special needs. At the 2019 AICHR Regional Dialogue, where gender perspectives in the rights of persons with disabilities were the main theme, over 120 people from different sectors participated, including policy makers, government officials, law enforcement agencies, private companies, academics, and other partners. Over the course of three days, the participants discussed the topics of women with disabilities and political rights, gender perspectives and justice system, disaster preparedness and management for women and girls with disabilities, inclusive education for women and girls with disabilities, and mainstreaming gender and disability rights in business. Looking back on the Dialogue, Arunee says that the opportunity to meet with the stakeholders from diverse sectors in ASEAN countries to share their experiences once a year is invaluable in getting new ideas. “When hearing about disabilities, many people turn their attention to ministries and agencies related to social welfare, but the issue of people with disabilities is not limited to social welfare and medical care but affects all sectors, such as business, politics, education, and labour.” She points out that this fact is often overlooked in the eyes of people without disabilities. The Dialogue brought together experts from a wide range of fields and featured interesting discussions from different perspectives that are not often in the spotlight, such as disaster preparedness and management. The Thai Government has adopted and implemented a number of laws, regulations, and policies for persons with disabilities, including the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2006. However, there are gaps in the implementation of these laws and policies, Arunee explains. For example, there is a government service where people can seek rehabilitation and treatments free of charge. However, people with disabilities living in rural areas have to sacrifice their daily incomes to travel to service centres in the city where they can receive treatments. APHT provides wheelchairs to children with mobility impairments. However, the support does not help as initially expected. Schools are not accessible by wheelchair because they are located too far from their homes and the roads are not paved. She points out that there are tremendous gaps in available services and information, especially between urban and rural areas. The biggest problem, according to Arunee, is that women with disabilities are hardly involved in policy and decision-making processes in Thailand and there are no women with disabilities in the parliament. Because of their disabilities and they are female, they face double discriminations. There are more obstacles for women and girls with disabilities living in rural areas. “The quickest way to help these people is for a member of parliament representing women with disabilities to speak directly to policy makers,” she claims. “It is high time that we defend our own rights instead of relying on others.” Arunee stood for an election to the Upper House, passed the local and national elections, but was defeated in the final selection by the Election Commission. Her challenge continues to deliver the voices of women with disabilities to the parliament.

ASEAN region occupies three (3) per cent of the world’s total land area and is home to 18 per cent of known plants and animals.1 The Region covers four (4) biodiversity hotspots and has high species endemicity, which brings the region to the fore of the world’s critical habitats that are important to global environmental sustainability. In a boost to enrich natural heritage and outstanding values of more than 1,300 protected areas in the region, the ASEAN Heritage Parks (AHP) Programme was established through the ASEAN Declaration on Heritage Parks and Reserves in 1984. AHPs are selected protected areas in the region known for their unique ecosystems and importance as conservation areas. Through the ASEAN Declaration on Heritage Parks, the ASEAN Member States (AMS) agreed to generate awareness of and effectively manage AHPs. As a result, the network has since grown to a total of 49 AHPs in various levels of development in the region.

Biodiversity conservation in ASEAN covers a wide range of issues including taxonomy—the science of identifying and classifying species. Taxonomy is integral to conservation as it provides the very foundation for knowing and understanding species and their role in the ecosystem. ASEAN has responded to the challenge of strengthening taxonomy in the region through the Taxonomic Capacity Building and Governance for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity Project. Implemented in three phases from 2010-2016, the project conducted 18 training workshops and four (4) internship programs, following the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) Regional Action Plan 2010–2015. Benefitting from these capacity building activities were 449 individuals from museums, herbaria, botanical gardens, academe, ASEAN Heritage Parks/protected areas, and government conservation agencies across all the 10 ASEAN Member States (AMSs). The following are some of the personal narratives from training recipients. “I am a curator of monocot collections at Herbarium Bogoriense, so this training is very relevant to my daily responsibilities, as well as plant taxonomy of palms, mainly on rattans. I published one of my new species together with my colleagues, Dr. John Dransfield and Dr. Edwino Fernando, at Kew Bulletin in 2014.” – Himmah Rustiana, Herbarium Bogoriense, Indonesia