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New APF plan to support vulnerable groups in the region

Graphic: Chair of Thailand's NHRI speaking at the APF Annual Meeting

APF members have committed to bolster their work to promote and protect the rights of especially vulnerable groups, adopting a new five-year plan.


APF members have adopted a five-year strategic plan that will support them in their work to tackle discrimination and other human rights violations experienced by some of the most vulnerable groups in the region, including women, children, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, older persons and migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

The APF 2015-2020 Strategic Plan also includes a focus on business and human rights.

The new strategic plan was discussed and approved at the APF's 20th Annual Meeting, which was held from 26-27 August 2015 in Ulaanbaatar and hosted by the National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia.

As part of the business meeting, APF Forum Councillors elected the following 'A status' APF members to represent the Asia Pacific region on the:

  • ICC Sub-Committee on Accreditation (Jordan; to join in November 2015)
  • ICC Business and Human Rights Working Group (Mongolia; to join in March 2016).

Australia, Korea, Mongolia and Qatar will continue to represent the Asia Pacific region on the ICC Bureau in the coming year.

Graphic: Delegates at the APF Annual Meeting

As host of the APF's Third Biennial Conference, the National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia took on the role of APF Chairperson for the next two years.

The Forum Council voted that the APF's Fourth Biennial Conference, to be held in 2017, will be hosted by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

Accordingly, the national human rights institutions of Qatar and Afghanistan, as hosts of the previous and the forthcoming APF Biennial Conference, were elected Deputy Chairpersons of the APF.

APF member institutions discussed a wide range of issues during the meeting, including proposals to streamline the governance arrangements of the APF and to reform the structure, composition and reference process for the APF's Advisory Council of Jurists.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders also facilitated a dialogue involving national human rights institutions and NGOs from across the region.

Presentations and meeting papers from the APF Annual Meeting and Third Biennial Conference, which focused on preventing torture in places of detention, are available on the APF 20 page.

More information on discussions at the Third Biennial Conference will be featured in the next APF Bulletin.

Date: 27 August 2015

Image credits

  1. Chair of Thailand's NHRI speaking at the APF Annual Meeting - APF/James Iliffe
  2. Delegates at the APF Annual Meeting - APF/James Iliffe