APF Membership Expands to 19

By Asia Pacific Forum • November 16, 2012

The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission was admitted as the APF’s 19th member institution at this year’s APF Annual Meeting, held in Amman, Jordan, on 5 November 2012.

The APF Forum Council unanimously approved the Commission’s application for associate membership.

The Commission was established by presidential decree in September 2011, as part of reforms taking place in the country. A draft law is currently being prepared that will provide it with a statutory basis.

Along with the national human rights institutions of Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka, the National Human Rights Commission of Myanmar is one of four APF associate members.

There are currently 15 full members of the APF.

To be admitted as a full member, a national human rights institution mustfully comply with the minimum international standards set out in the Paris Principles. Institutions that partially comply with the Paris Principles are granted associate membership.

To ensure consistency and to minimise duplication, the APF adopts the accreditation decisions of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (ICC) to determine compliance with the Paris Principles.

Institutions that have not sought accreditation through the ICC, such as the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, may be granted associate membership by the APF Forum Council until a determination of their accreditation status is made by the ICC.

In other decisions of the Forum Council, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea was appointed as the APF representative to the ICC Working Group on Human Rights and Business.

Forum Councillors also welcomed the reports of ANNI – the Asian NGOs Network on National Human Rights Institutions – and reaffirmed the importance of developing close cooperation between national human rights institutions and civil society organisations.

In 2013, the National Human Rights Committee of Qatar will host a combined APF Annual Meeting and Biennial Conference.

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