Asia Pacific Forum

Syllabus: GS2/Important International Institutions

News

• The President of India, Droupadi Murmu recently inaugurated the Annual General Meeting and Biennial Conference of the Asia Pacific Forum on Human Rights in New Delhi.

About

• Background: The Asia Pacific Forum (APF) was established in 1996.
• Secretariat: Sydney, Australia.
• Mandate: To bring together National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) of the Asia Pacific to address human rights challenges in the region.
• Members: From five founding members, the APF membership has expanded to 26 NHRIs  – 16 ‘A status’ members, nine ‘B status’ members and one currently suspended member (Afghanistan).
• Membership Criteria: To be admitted as a full member, a NHRI must fully comply with the minimum international standards set out in the Paris Principles. NHRIs that partially comply with the Paris Principles are granted associate membership.

Paris Principles 

• The Paris Principles (‘Principles Relating to the Status of National Human Rights Institutions’) set out the minimum standards that NHRIs must meet in order to be considered credible and to operate effectively.
• They were endorsed by the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights and the UN General Assembly in 1993.

APF and GANHRI

• The Asia Pacific Forum (APF) is one of four regional networks of NHRIs within the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI).
• Other 3 Regional groupings of NHRIs are
  • Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI)
  • European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI)
  • Network of National Institutions in the Americas
• Full membership of the APF is equivalent to the GANHRI accreditation of “A status” and associate membership of the APF is equivalent to the GANHRI accreditation of “B status”.

Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI)

• GANHRI was previously known as the International Coordinating Committee of institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (ICC). 
• GANHRI is a global network of national human rights institutions (NHRIs). It is constituted as a non-profit entity under Swiss law.

Source: PIB