Prep programme

At the launch of the “Empowering women for sustainable peace: preventing violence and promoting social cohesion in ASEAN” (Photo: asean.org) Jakarta (VNA) - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Canada and UN Women recently launched a five-year programme to expand and strengthen women’s leadership and participation in conflict prevention, resolution and recovery in Southeast Asia. The 8.5 million CAD (6.36 million USD) programme, “Empowering women for sustainable peace: preventing violence and promoting social cohesion in ASEAN”, is funded by Global Affairs Canada to support ASEAN and the implementation of the ASEAN-Canada Plan of Action 2021-2025, with the support of UN Women as a lead UN partner. “ Canada is proud to launch this flagship initiative that uses the women, peace and security approach to promote inclusive and sustainable peace and security in the region, while addressing the systemic gender inequality,” said Diedrah Kelly, Canada’s Ambassador to ASEAN . ASEAN has made important strides to advance women, peace and security agenda, including the adoption of the first ‘Joint Statement on Promoting Women, Peace and Security in ASEAN’ in 2017, the launch of the ASEAN Women’s Peace Registry in 2018, and convening the first ASEAN Symposium on Women, Peace and Security in 2019 and the ASEAN Ministerial Dialogue on Strengthening Women’s role for Sustainable Peace and Security in 2020. Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi said, “ASEAN is working concertedly to advance women, peace and security agenda across the three ASEAN Community Pillars as part of our commitment to promote gender equality and the roles of women in the implementation of the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework.” The COVID-19 impact has increased the risks for women and girls in fragile and conflict-affected contexts and this challenges us to re-examine threats to human security. “The pandemic highlights the important linkage between peace, …

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ASEAN, Canada to strengthen cooperation under new Plan of Action . - Illustrative image (Photo: https://asean.org/) Jakarta (VNA) – ASEAN and Canada reaffirmed commitment to strengthening cooperation under their new Plan of Action 2021-2025 in areas of mutual interests at the 9th ASEAN-Canada Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) Meeting via videoconference. In this spirit, the meeting agreed to deepen collaboration in the areas of trade and investment; micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) development; public health; innovation including entrepreneurship and start-ups; digital economy; education; gender equality; women, peace and security; and connectivity. cooperation programmes such as; the Canada-ASEAN Scholarships and Educational Exchanges for Development (SEED); the Canada-OECD Project for ASEAN SMEs (COPAS); and the “TRIANGLE in ASEAN initiative” to promote safe and fair labour migration. Taking note that next year marks the 45th Anniversary of the ASEAN-Canada Dialogue Partnership, Canada looked forward to engaging ASEAN on potential commemorative events./. VNA …

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Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Bac Lieu (VNA) - The Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu has adopted a wide range of measures to raise awareness and legal understanding among local fishermen about preventing and fighting illegal fishing . The provincial fisheries industry has witnessed strong development over recent years, contributing significantly to increasing incomes for fishermen. But legal violations in fishing activities remain common. According to Tran Xi Khuol, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Fisheries, fishing has been considered a key economic sector of Bac Lieu for many years. But problems linger, such as illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, especially fishing without permits, a lack of safety equipment on fishing vessels, and fishing reports not being submitted in line with regulations. Though patrols have been carried out regularly, violations have not been handled thoroughly, Khuol said. The main cause of the situation is that fishermen do not fully understand the 2017 Law on Fisheries, he believed. Local authorities have promoted communications activities to raise public awareness about the law, relevant legal documents, and technical measures, helping local fishermen comply with the law and contributing to preserving, managing, and utilising aquatic resources sustainably. The provincial People’s Committee has so far organised 18 programmes on legal matters for 1,086 ship owners and fishermen. The province has also supported local fishermen in building large-capacity vessels and upgrading equipment and logistics services, while creating favourable conditions for them to maintain operations in traditional fishing grounds. Bac Lieu has 1,142 registered fishing boats, including 485 with a minimum length of 15 metres. As of October 8, 2020, it had issued 720 fishing permits under the 2017 Law on Fisheries, including 453 offshore fishing permits and 267 onshore fishing permits. It also has 350 …

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