Annual Report 2012–2013 OHCHR and PIFs also work in partnership with Pacific governments and civil society to promote treaty ratification and to support their contributions to the work of the UN’s human rights mechanisms, including the human rights treaty bodies, the special procedures and the UPR mechanism. The draft memorandum of understanding was finalised in a strategic planning meeting held in Suva, Fiji from 26–29 November 2012 and submitted to the respective heads of each organisation for signature. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an intergovernmental regional mechanism comprised of member States from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In October 2012, the APF travelled to Kathmandu, Nepal to meet with the Secretary-General of SAARC. The APF proposed the development of a memorandum of understanding for joint activities to promote and protect human rights. The Secretary-General agreed to explore this proposal and a draft memorandum of understanding was developed and submitted to the member States of SAARC for their consideration. It is hoped a decision on the draft will be taken during 2013. Association of Southeast Asian Nations The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is an intergovernmental regional mechanism comprised of the member States from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The APF continued to hold discussions with representatives of the ASEAN Inter-Governmental Human Rights Commission and its related mechanisms on migrant workers and women on the role that NHRIs may be able to play in these mechanisms. The APF’s member institutions in southeast Asia welcomed the adoption of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration on 18 November 2012 during the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia as a positive development in the promotion and protection of human rights in the region. They expressed disappointment, however, that while the Declaration covers a wide range of rights categorised separately as civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; the right to development; and the right to peace, all of these are subject to nine general principles. These principles permit restrictions to be made on grounds wider than what are accepted internationally. More importantly, General Principle 7, which declares on the one hand, that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, recognises on the other, that member States may take into consideration their political, economic, legal, socio-cultural, and historical backgrounds in the realisation of human rights in their countries. 4. Engage with international and regional human rights mechanisms | 45