The Paris Principles for National Human Rights Institutions1 establish that NHRIs must protect and promote human rights. As it relates to the promotion of human rights, NHRIs are responsible for: • informing and educating about human rights • fostering the development of values and attitudes which uphold human rights • encouraging action aimed at defending human rights from violation. Paris Principles-compliant NHRIs play a critical role in promoting the effective implementation of human rights standards at national, regional, community, organisational and individual levels. They do this through the provision of human rights education activities. The APF is aiming to increase the effectiveness of human rights education provision by strengthening the practice of facilitation in the region. The key focus is on, ‘participant-centred’ human rights capacity development, rather than ‘teacher/trainer-centred’ instruction on human rights. The AFN supports NHRIs to develop confident and effective facilitation practitioners. It anticipates that effective facilitation will be transformative, resulting in participant engagement with, and commitment to, human rights principles and practices. The purpose of human rights facilitation is to develop participants’: • understanding of human rights • ability to apply this understanding to their lives and experiences • ability to identify the human rights issues that impact on them and on others • ability and commitment to address these issues and progress the realisation of human rights. Human rights facilitation is therefore both an obligation on NHRIs, and good practice. Guiding principles for human rights facilitation The practice of human rights facilitation is consistent with, and guided by, human rights and adulteducation principles. As a result, the activity of human rights facilitation focuses on strengthening respect for the human rights and dignity of participants and enabling their full and active participation in the learning process. For human rights education to work toward freedom, justice and peace, it must challenge the conditions that allow and perpetuate violations of human rights. If human rights education is to be transformative across all sectors and levels of society, the act of facilitating human rights education must also be transformative. Human rights facilitation will: 1 Paris Principles are available on the APF website at https://www.asiapacificforum.net/support/paris-principles/ and VIDEO Understanding the Paris Principles at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqZgDddNB-0&feature=youtu.be (0.54 – 1.04) 2