OHCHR Asia Pacific Workshops
Since 1990 the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has promoted regional cooperation through its Regional Workshop on Cooperation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Asia Pacific Region.
The workshops bring together senior representatives from governments in the Asia Pacific with responsibility for human rights issues, as well as national human rights institutions (NHRIs) and non-governmental organisations.
The first Workshop, held in Manila, explored the possibility of developing a regional human rights arrangement for the Asia Pacific.
During subsequent Workshops, Member States agreed to a ‘building block’ approach to the development of regional arrangements, while focusing on national-level strategies.
At the Tehran Workshop in 1998, Member States adopted a Framework for Regional Technical Cooperation in the Asia Pacific which identified the ‘four pillars’ of national human rights programmes:
- national plans of action for the promotion and protection of human rights and the strengthening of national capacities
- human rights education
- national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights
- strategies for the realisation of the right to development and economic, social and cultural rights.
A review of the ‘four pillars’ Tehran Framework was conducted by Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn in a discussion paper in June 2005. It made a series of recommendations for the development of a regional framework for the protection and promotion of human rights in the Asia Pacific region.
15th Regional Workshop, 2010
The 15th Regional Workshop, held in April 2010, involved delegates from government, NHRIs and civil society from more than 30 countries.
In her opening address, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha Kang, noted that there had been “a growing recognition in the region and around the world of the importance of developing regional arrangements to complement national and international efforts.”
She highlighted a number of “significant developments” in the past two decades, including the recent establishment of the Human Rights Committee under the Arab Charter on Human Rights and the first-ever sub-regional human rights body, ASEAN’s Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights.
“One focus area of the Asia-Pacific Regional Framework which has seen significant progress is the development of national human rights institutions,” she said.
The Deputy High Commissioner said that regional networks of NHRIs can play a valuable role in supporting the establishment of regional human rights mechanisms and also make a positive contribution to the international human rights system.
The NHRIs of Afghanistan, India, Jordan, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand and Timor-Leste presented a number of joint statements to the Workshop, urging Member States to progress action on the ‘four pillars’ of the Tehran Framework and highlighting the crucial role played by NHRIs.
They also encouraged Member States to support cooperation between sub-regional human rights mechanisms and NHRIs, where they exist.
Delegates to the Workshop adopted the Bangkok Action Points, which noted that the different regional arrangements, while evolving in different forms in different regional contexts, should reinforce universal human rights standards.
The statement underlined the importance of developing partnerships between governments, NHRIs and civil society at the national and regional levels in developing regional mechanisms.
It also requested the OHCHR and the APF to support further cooperation at the regional level among NHRIs and thematic human rights institutions, as well as to give high priority to requests from Member States on the development and strengthening of NHRIs in partnership with relevant regional organisations.
