Foreword The Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions is proud to present the inaugural guide to human rights community-led development for National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs). The Paris Principles direct NHRIs to inform and educate about human rights, to foster the development of values and attitudes which uphold human rights, and to encourage action aimed at protecting individuals against human rights violations. Specifically, NHRIs have a responsibility to: • build practical understanding of human rights • enable and mobilise others to become human rights actors and defenders • use their unique national position to build cultures of human rights across all levels and sectors of society. Building Human Rights Communities aims to support NHRIs to meet their mandate by building self-reliant and respectful ‘human rights communities’. These are communities that are able to: • identify, examine, document, and monitor human rights violations that impact on them, • develop and implement sustainable strategies to address these human rights violations using local knowledge and local solutions, • monitor and evaluate the success of these strategies. “Community” in this context refers to wherever people live, work and play. This can include a geographical local (such as a street, a village, a region or a virtual space), a particular function (such as a workplace, school, church, or sports club), or because of a common identity (such as age, disability, gender identity, ethnicity, or political belief). Human rights community-led development (HRCLD) is an approach; a way of working. It is about facilitating structures and processes that enable communities to address the human rights issues which affect their lives. It incorporates the concept of nothing about us without us. HRCLD is based on transformative and liberatory principles, on bottom-up processes and on prioritising insider values, experience and expertise. This Guide is a downloadable resource with practical step-by-step suggestions about how to facilitate a HRCLD approach. It provides tools, resources and case studies and is accompanied by an online programme which is available on the APF’s learning platform. As NHRIs facilitate HRCLD projects, this Guide will be reviewed and case studies added. I trust that Building Human Rights Communities - A Guide to Human Rights Community-led Development will support NHRIs in the Asia Pacific region to carry out their important work. Kieren Fitzpatrick Director Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions APF HRCLD Guide 3