The 11th Informal ASEM Seminar on Human Rights was held in Prague, the Czech Republic (23 – 25 November 2011). It engaged in dialogue over 100 members of civil society and government from across Asia and Europe. They discussed National and Regional Human Rights Mechanisms. Representatives from the United Nations, the European Union and various national human rights institutions also took part in this dialogue.
The main body of the discussion focused on four themes: national human rights mechanisms; regional human rights mechanisms; procedural effectiveness of regional human rights mechanisms; and multi-level architecture of human rights mechanisms. This informal dialogue will culminate in a set of recommendations for strengthening regional and national mechanisms in Asia and Europe.
The seminar opened with welcome remarks by Ambassador Michel Filhol, ASEF Executive Director, and Mr Jirí Schneider, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. The discussion themes were addressed during the keynote speech by Professor Brian Burdekin AO of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute and Mr Rafendi Djamin of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights.
The seminar was co-organised by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute (delegated by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs and ASEF. It was hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic.