Contents Executive Summary 04 Acknowledgements 07 Introduction 08 APF Human Rights Defenders Working Group 09 Scope of Work 09 Term 09 The Members of the Working Group 11 Murari Prasad Kharel (Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission of Nepal) Dr Mohammed Saif A. A. Al-Kuwari (Vice Chairman, National Human Rights Committee of Qatar)  Aminath Naushan Abdul Muhaimin (Secretary General, Human Rights Commission of the Maldives)  Maimuna Al-Sulaimani (Commissioner, National Human Rights Commission of Oman)  Raymund John P. Rosuelo (Chief of the Research and Knowledge Management Division, the Commission of Human Rights of the Philippines)  Pravesh Sharma (Chairperson, Fiji Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission) Challenges and Risks faced by NHRIs and HRDs 11 11 12 12 13 13 14 Summary of Activities 17 Bi-Annual Meetings 17 Capacity Development Programme on HRDs 18 Small Grant Initiative 19 Expected Outcomes 21 Support to Establish NHRIs 21 Regional Outlook Dashboard 22 Final Evaluation of the Regional Action Plan 24 Guidelines and Toolkits 25 Conclusion APF Human Rights Defenders Working Group: Annual Report 2024-25 27 3