Why is it important for an NHRI to have a gender strategy? A gender strategy supports an NHRI to fulfill its mandate to promote and protect the human rights of all people, with special attention to gender equality and the rights of women, girls, and gender-diverse people. Across the Asia Pacific region, women, girls and gender diverse people continue to experience discrimination, violence and unequal access to rights, despite legal and policy protections in many countries.2 NHRIs therefore need to have an organised and focused strategy to address the gender rights issues of priority in their country. A gender strategy does not replace the NHRI strategy but applies a gender lens across the NHRI’s existing priorities and functions. The organisational strategy is the umbrella roadmap for the NHRI as a whole. The Gender Strategy ensures that gender equality is embedded across all aspects of that roadmap. In practice, a gender strategy will support an NHRI to: • Fulfill its mandate to promote and protect the human rights of all people, by paying special attention to gender equality and the rights of women, girls, and gender-diverse people. • Identify its gender priorities, outcomes, activities, allocate adequate resources and build internal capacity to deliver. • Enable internal and external stakeholders to understand the NHRI’s priorities, and to identify potential partnerships and funding opportunities. • M  eet its international reporting obligations and align with international human rights standards. • Ensure gender is mainstreamed throughout the NHRI’s internal governance and operations. • E  stablish its reputation for advancing gender equality and the rights of women, girls, and gender diverse people. 2. Amnesty International (2024), The State of the World’s Human Rights: April 2024, at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol10/7200/2024/en/ Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (2024), Gender Baseline Assessment of National Human Rights Institutions in the Asia Pacific at: https://library.asiapacificforum.net/en/entity/klsz202h97g?file=1726530467379esy3w2cuuzj.pdf&page=1 Human Rights Watch (2024), Women’s Rights at: https://www.hrw.org/topic/womens-rights and LGBT Rights, at: https://www.hrw.org/topic/lgbt-rights UN Women Asia and the Pacific (2023), A Regional Framework Towards Peaceful, Inclusive Societies: Advancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and Inclusive Governance in the Asia-Pacific Region (2023-2027) at: https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/ap-GPSRegional-Framework-brief.pdf Gender Strategy Toolkit 2026 17