4th: Philippines 1999

4th Annual Meeting, Manila, Philippines, 6-8 September 1999

The Secretary of Justice of the Republic of the Philippines, Mr Serafin Cuevas, opened the Meeting on behalf of the President of the Philippines, HE Joseph Ejercito Estrada.

The special theme for the meeting, which was hosted by the Philippines Commission on Human Rights, was “National Human Rights Institutions and Economic and Social Rights”.

The meeting also considered the role of national human rights institutions in addressing discrimination against women, especially the trafficking in women and girls; as well as the death penalty and its use in countries in the Asia Pacific region.

A feature of the meeting was the contribution of non-governmental organisations, which co-ordinated their comments and presented joint statements to each plenary session.

Outcomes of the 4th Annual Meeting included:

Membership

• The Fiji Human Rights Commission was admitted as a full member.

Advisory Council of Jurists

• The APF endorsed the nomination of the founding members of the ACJ: Mr Fali S Nariman (India), Mr R K W Goonesekere (Sri Lanka), Mr Sedfrey Ordonez (the Philippines), Professor J E Sahetapy (Indonesia), the Hon Justice Dame Silvia Cartwright (New Zealand) and Sir Ronald Wilson (Australia).

• The APF agreed to develop references on two issues for consideration by the ACJ: the death penalty and child pornography on the internet.

Management

• The APF agreed that the Secretariat should continue to be located in Australia for an indefinite period and requested the New Zealand Human Rights Commission to continue as Regional Coordinator.

• The APF agreed that a working group of the Regional Coordinator, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the host institution of the Secretariat should examine and resolve these issues.

5th Annual Meeting

The APF accepted the offer of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission to host the 5th Annual Meeting in 2000.