8th Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Forum<br> of National Human Rights Institutions

The 8th Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Forum (APF) was held at Kathmandu from 16 - 18 February 2004, which was attended by representatives of the National Human Rights Institutions of twelve member countries that constitute the Asia Pacific Forum i.e. Nepal, Australia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mangolia, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The meet reaffirmed that the structure and responsibilities of national institutions should be consistent with the Paris Principles. In view of the changes in the New Zealand law governing the New Zealand Rights Human Commission the meet reaffirmed the full membership of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission. It also admitted the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Palestinian Independent commission for Citizens Rights as Associate Members of the Forum. As a result, the Forum's overall membership has increased to fourteen institutions. The Forum will assist the new associate members where possible, to become fully compliant with the Paris Principles.
The Forum's 8th Annual Meet which was co-sponsored by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) saw the participation of the Advisory Council of Jurists (ACJ), representatives from the ILO, UNDP UNESCO, the governments of Australia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Solomon Islands, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom and the United States of America, the institutions from Iran, Jordan and the Maldives, the regional Network of National Human Rights Institutions of the Americas, and thirty eight international regional and national non-governmental organizations.
The Rt. Hon. Surya Bahadur Thapa, Prime Minister of Nepal and Mr. Matthew Kahane, United Nations Resident Coordinator (Nepal), on behalf of Mr.Bertrand Ramchandran, Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, addressed the inaugural session.
The need to protect and promote human rights and ensure the rule of law in combating terrorism found mention in the opening statements made by several speakers. This was further elaborated by Dr. Justice A.S. Anand, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, India, in his statement on 'Balancing Human Rights Protection and Security Concerns: Regional Perspective'.
Business Session
The issue of the Rule of Law in combating Terrorism, which has been referred to the Advisory Council of Jurists at the 7th annual meet of APF, was examined by it and an interim report was submitted before the 8th annual meet which was debated and unanimously adopted. The ACJ has been asked to submit a final report on the subject. The meet also decided to formulate a new reference to the Advisory Council of Jurists on the issue of Prevention of Torture.
The Forum also elected The National Human Rights Institutions from Fiji, Nepal, Philippines and the Republic of Korea to be the four regional representatives to the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions. The Fiji Human Rights Commission will serve on the International Coordinating Committee accreditation sub-committee.
It unanimously elected the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal (as the current host institution of the annual meeting) to the position of Chairperson of the Forum. The National Human Rights Commission of India (as the host institution for the last annual meeting) and the National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea (as the host institution for the next annual meeting) were also elected unanimously to the two positions of Deputy Chairpersons.
Plenary Session
The Forum reported on their implementation of the recommendations of the Advisory Council of Jurists' reports on the death penalty, child pornography on the internet and trafficking. A number of Forum Councillors specifically cited the successful implementation of the Advisory Council's recommendations.
It called on governments of Forum member institutions to strengthen the independence and institutional capacity of national institutions to enable them to carry out their mandates more effectively. In particular, national institutions should be provided with a wide and unrestricted mandate to conduct investigations of human rights violations. Government should also give serious consideration to the determinations and recommendations of national human rights institutions and ensure their effective implementation.
The Forum welcomed the progress to develop a new international convention on the rights of people with disabilities, as advocated by national institutions at the workshop held in New Delhi, India in 2003. Forum institutions agreed to establish a working group to assist in the development of the proposed convention. The Forum welcomed the offer of the OHCHR to continue to support the Forum in these activities.

The concluding statement highlighted :
§ Importance of joint practical collaborative activities with NGOs.
§ Congratulated governments of Maldives, Solomon Islands and Temor Leste for deciding to establish human rights institutions, which would be compliant with the Paris Principles.
§ Implementation of recommendations of Advisory Council of Jurists' reports on death penalty, child pornography on the internet and trafficking.
§ Alleged violations of human rights in Nepal.
§ Progress on developing a new International Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
§ Governments should sign and ratify Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Forums of Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and its Optional Protocol.
§ Consideration of the recommendations of the Advisory Council on 'Terrorism and Rule of Law.
§ Requested OHCHR and member states to extend support for the implementation of its Business Plan.
§ Called upon the States to strengthen the national institutions team of OHCHR.