UN Commission on the Status of Women A second breakthrough occurred at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in March 2016. Led by the APF, seven NHRIs – Australia, Canada, Denmark, Korea, Morocco, New Zealand and the Philippines – attended CSW 60 to continue the campaign for the independent participation of NHRIs in the work of CSW. This year’s campaign gained further momentum from the General Assembly resolution, with the APF and individual NHRIs increasing their lobbying efforts with governments, UN agencies and others. In an historic decision, the Agreed Conclusions issued at the end of CSW 60 included a standalone paragraph to encourage the CSW Secretariat to consider how it could enhance the participation of NHRIs, including at the next CSW session in 2017. Our hope is that NHRIs will soon be able to engage directly with CSW and contribute to global policy-making on the rights of women and girls. Engaging with other UN bodies During 2015–16, we supported the participation of APF members at the: >> United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (May 2016) >> Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (June 2016) NHRIs SHOWCASE THEIR WORK ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS NHRIs from different parts of the globe – including the Philippines from the Asia Pacific – described their efforts to advance the rights of women and girls at a well attended side-event at CSW 60. Co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Germany, Australia, Morocco, New Zealand and Chile, the side event was part of our successful advocacy campaign to promote the value of NHRI participation of in future sessions of the CSW. During these sessions, APF members highlighted their human rights work and promoted the value of independent NHRI participation in the work of the respective UN bodies, which was favourably received in both cases. We also met with key representatives of the Open Ended Working Group on Ageing to promote the value of formally incorporating the independent participation of NHRIs in its proceedings. Contributing to regional human rights forums APF members seek to raise human rights concerns with different regional bodies that exist, including the ASEAN Intergovernmental Committee on Human Rights and the Arab Human Rights Committee. A challenge, however, is that these two bodies have limited mandates, limited geographic jurisdictions and provide limited opportunities for the participation of NHRIs. In the past year, a number of our South Asian members, especially Afghanistan and Bangladesh, have worked together to develop momentum for the establishment of a regional human rights mechanism for South Asia. Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions Annual Report 2015–16 > 21