10th APF Annual Meeting, 2005

The President of Mongolia, Mr Nambaryn Enkhbayar, opened the 10th Annual Meeting of the APF, held in Ulaanbaatar, 24-26 August 2005.

The three-day meeting, hosted by the National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia, included a one-day closed session of the Forum Council and a two-day meeting open to observers from governments, non-government organisations and other interested organisations and individuals.

The major theme of the meeting was the role of national human rights institutions in the prevention of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. The Advisory Council of Jurists met separately to consider the Forum Council's reference on torture before joining the plenary session on the final day to present its interim report and recommendations.

Other topics discussed during the annual meeting included national human rights institutions and human rights education and the APF-Brookings/Bern Project on Internally Displaced Persons.

Outcomes of the 10th Annual Meeting included:

Membership

• Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission admitted to full membership.
• Provedor for Human Rights and Justice of Timor-Leste admitted as a candidate member.
• National Human Rights Committee of Qatar admitted as an associate member.

Advisory Council of Jurists

• Presentation of the AJC interim report on the prevention of torture during detention.
• The Forum Council agreed to develop a reference on the legal obligations of States for the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights.

Management

• The National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia was elected Chairperson of the Forum Council. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea and the Fiji Human Rights Commission were elected to the two positions of Deputy Chairpersons.

11th Annual Meeting

The Forum Council accepted the offer of the Fiji Human Rights Commission to host the 11th Annual Meeting in 2006.