ASIA PACIFIC FORUM OF NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS POSITIVE EXAMPLES OF ENGAGEMENT WITH UN HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS PHILIPPINES The Commission’s advocacy with the Executive Branch contributed to the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT) being invited to undertake an official visit to the country from 23 May5 June 2015. As part of this visit, the Commission met with the SPT and presented reports on the state of detention in the country, including an unprecedented study on the human rights situation in lock-up cells in the National Capital Region. The Commission also informed the SPT of its current initiatives on torture prevention, including the APF Torture Prevention Ambassador project, and pending legislation to establish a national preventive mechanism (NPM) attached to the Commission. Although the SPT’s report is confidential, the head of delegation publicly called for the approval of the NPM bill at the conclusion of the visit. TIMOR LESTE For the first time, the Office of the Provedoria for Human Rights and Justice (PDHJ) prepared reports for the Committee against Torture and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women without the assistance of external institutions. The Provedor and the Deputy Provedor spoke extensively to the treaty committees and were able to respond to questions based on research that the PDHJ had undertaken. The PDHJ also arranged meetings with civil society organisations before the submission of its reports and will meet further with them once the recommendations of the treaty bodies have been released. 2. Contributing at the regional level Across the Asia Pacific region there is one subregional intergovernmental body established for the promotion of human rights: the ASEAN Intergovernmental Committee on Human Rights (AICHR). The Arab Human Rights Committee monitors the implementation of the revised Arab Charter of Human Rights. However, both bodies have very limited mandates to promote and protect human rights and both have limited geographic jurisdictions. NHRIs do not have formal participation rights under them. Other bodies such as the Pacific Island Forum and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation focus primarily political, economic or social issues, rather than human rights issues. They are therefore difficult bodies for NHRIs to find space in. A number of APF members (particularly Afghanistan and Bangladesh) in the South Asian region are cooperating to develop momentum around the establishment of a future human rights mechanism for South Asia. In West Asia, all four Arab members are engaging with the Arab Human Rights Committee. 28 In relation to the AICHR, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia commented that: While the past year has seen greater engagement by AICHR with stakeholders such as CSO and NHRIs through consultations and workshops, AICHR as a whole, still does not officially recognise NHRIs as a dialogue partner and their important role in promoting and protecting human rights. Although only five of the ten ASEAN member states have NHRIs, the Commission strongly believes that AICHR, as a regional intergovernmental human rights body, should have frequent and formal engagements with the existing NHRIs in the region so that their views and recommendations could be given due consideration by AICHR and ASEAN Governments. The APF helped mobilise international support for the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives after the Supreme Court of the Maldives launched a suo moto case against its five members in September 2014.