of the League in Cairo, the Arab Republic of Egypt. The Conference, which spanned over two consecutive days, aims to develop mechanisms to ensure the protection of human rights in times of conflict, especially by strengthening the contents of the relevant national legislation and regional and international charters. The Conference discussed the issues of international and regional frameworks for the protection of women, and the impact of occupation on the lives of women and children, the impact of armed conflicts on vulnerable groups, and means to enhance victims’ access to justice. The participants were divided into four working groups to draft recommendations on means to implement the minimum international standards for the protection of human rights in Palestine in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, ways to mitigate the impact of conflicts on vulnerable groups, ways to strengthen legal protection of vulnerable groups at the national level, as well as recommendations for post-conflict phase. 22. On the other hand, the NIHR has participated in the twenty-fourth meeting of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) in Seoul, Republic of South Korea, in the presence of 25 national human rights institutions affiliated with the APF. The meeting reviewed the most important means of cooperation between the national institutions, which are members of the Asia Pacific Forum, the international community, and the United Nations agencies and mechanisms, discussed the annual and financial report of the APF, and carried out discussions with the various regional and international civil society institutions. 23. On the third day, the APF organized a conference on combating discrimination and hatred, in which, the institutions, members of the APF, the representatives of accredited embassies in South Korea, and the representatives of international organizations and civil society institutions participated. During the Conference, the roles of the national human rights and civil society institutions in combating hatred speech and all forms of discrimination were addressed and discussed. 24. The NIHR has also participated in the proceedings of the International Conference on “Legislature and Mechanisms to Combat Torture in Arab States”, organized in partnership between the National Council for Human Rights, the Arab and Egyptian Human Rights Organizations, and the Kemet Boutros-Ghali Peace and Knowledge Foundation in the Arab Republic of Egypt. The Conference addressed the most important challenges for combating torture and maltreatment in the Arab region. During the Conference, the legislative gaps in criminalizing all forms of torture and the mechanism of accountability and ensuring that perpetrators do not go unpunished were analyzed. In addition, the attendees considered establishing independent national mechanisms for the prevention of torture in accordance with the Optional Protocol attached to the UN Convention against Torture, whether for the States that have acceded to the Protocol or those that have not yet done so, and discussed means of redressing victims. 71