Asia Pacific Human Rights parley in Colombo

Daily News

24 September 2001

Sri Lanka

Nearly one hundred leading human rights activists are now in Colombo to attend the 6th Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) hosted by the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission.

They include heads of human rights commissions, high-ranking UN officials, representatives of the region’s governments and NGOs.

A Team of senior officials of the APF including its Regional coordinator Chris Lawrence, Secretariat Director Kieren Fitzpatrick are here since last week attending to the work of the meeting which is one of the biggest human rights events in the region this year.

The first session of the 6^th APF annual meeting will be ceremonially inaugurated on Wednesday, September 26, at the Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo.

Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, PC, will be the keynote speaker at the ceremonial opening where Justice P.N. Bhagwati, India’s Former Chief Justice and Chairman, UN Human Rights Committee and Regional Advisor to the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific will deliver a special address.

Mr. Faiz Mustapha, PC, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission will deliver the welcome address.

The first stage of the meeting will commence today (24) when APF members consisting of national human rights commissions of Australia, India, Indonesia, Fiji, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines and Sri Lanka meet at a closed session to discuss organisational matters, reviews past performance and plan out future strategy. The Forum members meeting today will also take up applications of human rights commissions of Mongolia and Thailand for APF membership.

Themed on regional co-operation, the open session will discuss a wide range of rights related issues:

The needs of newly estabilshed Human Rights Commissions, NGOs and National Human Rights Institutions, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights and Gender Issues for National Human Rights Institutions, Asia-Pacific regional cooperation.

A report on the outcome of the World Conference against Racism will also be discussed, while internal displacement is one of the topics listed for panel discussions. There will be a video presentation on the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions with introductory remarks by Kieren Fitzpatrick, Director, APF Secretariat.

APF, the umbrella body of human rights Commissions in the Asia Pacific region was launched in 1996 when the National Human Rights Institutions of Australia, India, Indonesia and New Zealand together with representatives of some regional Governments and Non Governmental Organisations, met in Darwin, Australia, The Philippines, Fiji, Sri Lanka and Nepal joined as members later.

Meanwhile, the Asia Pacific Human Rights Network (APHRN) commenced a parallel workshop on Sunday at the Galle Face Hotel, preparatory to the APFs 6^th Annual Meeting. This workshop is coordinated by Mr. Ravi Nair.

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