Background
The Regional Working Group on Children’s Rights Convention functions as a loose network of child rights oriented non-government organizations in Southeast Asia. Its members, most of whom are partners of Tdh-Germany, are based in Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Lao PDR, and Thailand. At present, seven (7) Focal Point Persons from 7 countries provide overall coordination of the regional work of the group.
The plan to form the Regional Working Group was initiated by Tdh-Germany partners in 1999 during the 2nd Regional Partners’ Meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The aim of its formation was to strengthen the contribution of non-government organizations and civil society groups to existing efforts to monitor the implementation of the UNCRC in the respective countries of the members.
Since its formation, the WG has so far taken the initiative to train data gatherers from seven countries on case documentation of various child rights issues and concerns. As a result, at least 808 cases of child rights violations were documented from October 2005 to July 2006: Burma (63 bulletins); Cambodia (171 bulletins); Indonesia (40 bulletins);Lao PDR (61 bulletins); Philippines (272 bulletins); Thailand (96 bulletins) and Vietnam (105 bulletins). These cases could be viewed at www.martus.ceu.hu.
A regional website, www.childrightsasia.org was likewise designed by AsiaActs, one of the focal organizations. It features latest issues on child rights, recent researches published by INGOs relevant to the work of the group, case studies from each country, Convention status in each country and linking the website to other websites working on similar and related issues.