ASIA PACIFIC FORUM OF NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS Promoting gender equality VALUE TO MEMBERS OF PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY very high high 4 9 Source: APF Member Survey 2015 9 medium low very low no response Women and girls in all countries across the Asia Pacific are at risk of serious violations of their human rights, such as gender-based violence and harassment. Entrenched roles, attitudes and stereotypes also mean that many experience poverty, discrimination and unequal access to services and participation in community life. APF members have made the promotion and protection of the human rights of women and girls a priority in their respective countries. It is also a focus for collective action by our members. Promoting gender equality is a core part of our strategic plan. We have developed a specialised and integrated approach to guide our work in this area. 1. Supporting our members As part of the APF Regional Action Plan on the Human Rights of Women and Girls, adopted in 2012, our members pledged to take concrete steps to address the unequal status of women and girls in their respective countries. This complements similar commitments made by NHRIs globally under the Amman Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted in 2012 at the 11th International Conference of National Human Rights Institutions. NHRIs can promote and protect the rights of women and girls by receiving and investigating complaints, providing human rights education and training, making recommendations to government on law reform, building partnerships for change in the community and raising issues with the international human rights system. 20 To support our members in this work, the APF published Promoting and Protecting the Human Rights of Women and Girls: A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions in 2014. This manual has been translated into Arabic (courtesy of the National Human Rights Committee of Bahrain) and Tetum, with funding support provided by the APF. Between January and April 2015, we ran a new blended learning training program on the human rights of women and girls, bringing together representatives from APF member institutions in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka). In the past 12 months, the APF entered into Memorandums of Understanding with the two of the UN’s most significant agencies working to advance the human rights of women and girls: UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). These MOUs aim to provide practical support for the work of our members; for example, to assist NHRIs undertake national inquiries relating to reproductive rights. The APF also provides advice to individual members when requested. In the past year, we supported the Ombudsman of Samoa to provide for gender equality in the composition of its Advisory Council and to integrate gender mainstreaming across all of the organisation’s operations and activities. The provision of this support can be especially important with newer NHRIs as it helps embed a culture of gender equality and gender analysis within those institutions. Afghan women earn a meagre living selling goods on the streets of Kabul and other cities and towns across the country. Credit: Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission