APF conference to focus on the right to development
The APF Annual Meeting and Biennial Conference will take place in Bangkok from 6-8 September 2011.
Photo by Rainforest Action Network, Flickr Creative Commons
Twenty five years ago, on 4 December 1986, the international community adopted the Declaration on the Right to Development.
It remains a landmark statement of the right of all people to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development.
In September 2011, around 150 representatives from national human rights institutions, governments, civil society organisations and UN agencies from across the Asia Pacific region will meet in Bangkok to take stock of progress and challenges in implementing the right to development.
Participants at the first APF Biennial Conference will also share examples of good practice involving national human rights institutions and their role to monitor implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development in their respective countries.
A series of parallel discussions will draw on the expertise of national and regional non-governmental organisations on a range of related topics, including:
- human rights defenders and the right to development
- the role of the media and development
- natural resources and development.
The ideas and feedback from these sessions will help guide and inform the broader conference discussions.
As part of the two-day conference, participants will also examine the situation facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Asia Pacific region, as well as steps being taken by national human rights institutions to advance their human rights.
In addition, a conference session will explore the important and unique contribution that national human rights institutions can make to the work of the UN Human Rights Council.
The 2011 APF Biennial Conference will be held on 7-8 September 2011 and hosted by the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand.
The event, which had previously been held on an annual basis, is one of the largest regular human rights gatherings in the region.
The APF Annual Meeting will be held on 6 September, prior to the conference, with the APF’s Senior Executive Officers Network meeting in parallel on the first day of the conference.
Confirmed speakers, background papers and other information will be made available on the APF website in the coming weeks.
Closing date for registrations for the APF Biennial Conference is 6 August 2011.
For enquiries, contact the APF secretariat: apf@asiapacificforum.net.
