ASIA PACIFIC FORUM OF NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS Highlights for 2014–15 GROWING APF MEMBERSHIP Membership of the APF has grown to 22, with the National Centre for Human Rights of Kazakhstan admitted as an associate member at our 19th Annual Meeting in September 2014. The NHRI is based on an Ombudsman model and, in 2012, was accredited with “B status” by the ICC. In the past year, decisions on the international accreditation status of APF member institutions from Afghanistan, Mongolia, Nepal and Bangladesh were finalised by the ICC. Three members were re-accredited as “A status” and one was reaccredited as “B status”. The APF provided high quality advice to each member institution throughout the process. SUPPORTING NHRIs UNDER THREAT During the past year, we advocated strongly on behalf of three APF members – the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives and the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand – who have faced reprisals for undertaking their work or serious threats to their independence. We also helped mobilise the support of the international community – including UN agencies, the ICC and leading NGOs – in support of our members. ESTABLISHING AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO TORTURE PREVENTION In November 2014, nine Torture Prevention Ambassadors from seven APF members met in Sydney to develop their proposals for a large-scale torture prevention project in their respective countries. Our goal is to marshal their efforts to develop “good practice” models that others can draw on and advance a torture prevention agenda within the Asia Pacific region. We are undertaking this initiative in partnership with the Association for the Prevention of Torture, as part of a comprehensive three-year program of torture prevention activities for NHRIs in the Asia Pacific, funded by the European Union 6 PROMOTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS Between January and April 2015, the APF held its first blended learning training course on the human rights of women and girls. Participants from our South Asia members (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka) explored how they could make full use of their mandates to promote gender equality and address the serious and systematic human rights violations that women and girls experience. The APF will provide $5,000 “seed” funding to two members to assist them implement the action plans they developed as part of the course. INSPECTING PLACES OF DETENTION IN SAMOA For the first time ever, prisons and other places of detention in Samoa have been inspected by the Office of the Ombudsman, as part of its expanded mandate as the country’s NHRI. Over a five-day period in January 2015, a team of inspectors visited six facilities and then presented their findings and recommendations in a report to Parliament. The inspections followed a tailored four-day APF training course held in Apia, Samoa, for staff of the Office of the Ombudsman and representatives from the Ministries of Police and Prisons and Correctional Facilities. ADVANCING RESPECT FOR THE RIGHTS OF LGBTI PEOPLE In February 2015, the APF and UNDP ran a workshop on the Role of National Human Rights Institutions in Promoting and Protecting the Rights, including Health, of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) People in Asia and the Pacific. Representatives from 16 APF members attended the two-day workshop, along with civil society groups in the region. The outcome document set out a range of practical goals and activities for NHRIs in relation to capacity building, research, monitoring, advocacy and education, promotion and dialogue. The APF has already taken steps to implement commitments we made at the workshop, by commencing work on a manual for NHRIs on sexual orientation and gender identity. This manual will be used in a blended learning training program for APF members.