APF meeting to help chart five-year roadmap

This year's annual meeting will focus on building agreement on the key themes and activities that will drive the APF's work to advance human rights in the region over the coming five-year period.

Representatives from all 21 APF members will gather in New Delhi from 3-5 September 2014 for the APF's 19th Annual Meeting, hosted by the National Human Rights Commission of India.

Forum Councillors will review a series of recommendations on a draft 2015-2020 Strategic Plan, developed by the Forum Council Working Group in June, including that the APF focus on promoting and protecting the rights of the following groups of people:

• Children
• Women
• People with disabilities
• Mass movement of people (including asylum seekers, refugees, migrants, internally and externally displaced persons)
• Older persons.

Promoting greater engagement with business on human rights was recommended by the Forum Council Working Group as another key focus area of the APF in the coming five-year period.

During the three-day meeting, Forum Councillors will engage in a constructive dialogue with representatives from ANNI (Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions) and consider an application for associate membership from the Commissioner for Human Rights of Kazakhstan.

The program will also include a discussion on the work of APF members to promote gender equality and implement the APF Action Plan on Women and Girls' Human Rights. There will be presentations from the national human rights institutions of India, Jordan and Mongolia.

In addition, voting will be held to elect 'A status' APF members to represent the Asia Pacific region on the:

• ICC Bureau
• ICC Sub-Committee on Accreditation
• ICC Finance Committee
• ICC Business and Human Rights Working Group.

Date: 15 August 2014