iii. CHAPTER 1 APF Members also discussed areas of common concern in the region which could be addressed collectively, such as business and human rights, cross-border trafficking and violence against women and children. In this regard, the APF Secretariat welcomed members’ suggestion to conduct more webinars to share best practices, adding that APF was developing a training programme on a complaint handling management system for NHRI staff. Commonwealth Forum of NHRIs (CFNHRI) Earlier in October 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission of Great Britain, as the current Chair of CFNHRI, proposed establishing a Permanent Secretariat to ensure the sustainability of the Forum. The Permanent Secretariat would also support the delivery of CFNHRI’s activities on behalf of the Chair and its members. This would include providing administrative support and enabling continuity of CFNHRI’s service during the handover of the CFNHRI’s Chairmanship. CFNHRI members agreed with the proposal. In March 2020, the election for hosting the Permanent Secretariat was held online. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and Rwanda National Commission for Human Rights were elected to jointly host CFNHRI’s first Permanent Secretariat for an initial two-year period. iv. Global Alliance of NHRIs (GANHRI) In August, Mr. Carlos Alfonso Negret Mosquera ended his term as the Ombudsman of Colombia and his position as GANHRI Chairperson. GANHRI conducted the Extraordinary General Assembly (EGM) virtually on 19-26 October to formally elect the new GANHRI Chairperson, Dr. Freddy Carrión Intriago, Ombudsman of Ecuador. The EGM also ratified the new GANHRI Bureau members appointed by the Asia Pacific and African regional NHRI networks in 2019. GANHRI’S 2020 Annual Meeting of GANHRI, originally scheduled to be held from 10-13 March in Geneva, Switzerland was postponed to 30 November - 4 December due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Annual Meeting was not a live event. The A-status NHRI member voted on the adoption and approval of the following documents: ANNUAL REPORT 2020 53

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