APF training programs span the region

Three major training programs, involving around 80 representatives from ten APF member institutions, were delivered by the APF and its partner organisations during the last month.

West Asia – National Human Rights Institutions and Human Rights Defenders

In Doha, representatives from the human rights commissions of West Asia – Afghanistan, Jordan, Qatar and Iran – along with government and civil society representatives from Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq and Qatar, participated in an APF training program on Human Rights Defenders.

The five-day program, hosted by the National Human Rights Committee of Qatar and delivered by the International Service for Human Rights, explores the role and functions of human rights defenders and the international standards and mechanisms that protect their rights.

As part of the program, participants produced detailed action plans about how they would share the ideas and knowledge they had gained with colleagues in their national human rights institutions and re-affirmed the importance of building and maintaining strong relationships with their NGO partners.

During the training workshop, government representatives from Bahrain and Iraq confirmed that national human rights institutions were in the final stages of being established in their respective countries.

South-East Asia – National Inquiries

The second APF training workshop – held in Jakarta and hosted by the National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia – focused on the key elements required to establish and run effective National Inquiries into pressing human rights issues.

Drawing together participants from the human rights commissions of South-East Asia – Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Timor Leste – the programme looked at the practical steps involved in planning, resourcing, conducting and promoting a national inquiry, as well as holding follow-up activities and advocating for inquiry recommendations

The programme was presented by Professor Brian Burdekin, from the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI), and Dr Abhay Shukla, who coordinated the NGO sector which worked in partnership with the Indian National Human Rights Commission in its Inquiry into the Right to Health.

An APF training manual on National Inquiries is currently in the final stages of development. It is designed to complement the training DVD – 'Going Public' – produced by the APF in 2007.

Maldives – Media and communications

In the capital Male’, the APF presented an in-country workshop on Media and Communications strategies for the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM).

Involving staff and Commissioners from the HRCM, as well as representatives from local NGOs, the workshop explored how ‘news’ is selected, ‘translating’ complex human rights issues into news stories, preparing for media interviews and developing effective community education programs.

Practical ‘hands on’ activities focused on the HRCM’s role to promote participation in the upcoming Presidential elections, as well as planning for the release of a report on the right to housing.

One workshop session brought together local journalists and HRCM Commissioners and staff for an informal discussion, which helped build greater understanding of each other’s role and identified practical steps the HRCM could take to develop a strong working relationship with the media.