Merida Declaration Follow Up

APF Region

ICC 29

29th Session of the ICC

Palais des Nations

Geneva, Monday 21 March 2016

1 Session 1: Merida Declaration Follow Up

In response to the Merida Declaration, the APF region adopted a ‘Regional Action Plan’ to supplement the Declaration.

The Regional Action Plan outlines the actions that will be undertaken by both individual APF NHRIs and the APF secretariat.

With regards to individual APF NHRIs, they have committed to:

  1. Monitor government implementation of the SDGs including through the UPR, treaty bodies, special procedures, Human Rights Council and other mechanisms. NHRIs can also monitor government national strategies and action plans on this Agenda;
  2. Provide advice and recommendations to government in relation to laws, policies and practices on the SDGs;
  3. Develop awareness-raising programmes, in cooperation with other stakeholders, for the general public, government agencies, and civil society;
  4. Cooperate with a broad range of stakeholders including, but not limited to, national statistical agencies, government agencies, law enforcement bodies, parliamentarians and judiciary, professional organisations, business sector, NGOs and civil society; and
  5. Undertake inquiries, complaints or investigations into allegations of rights violations in the context of development and SDG implementation.

The Merida Declaration is just a few months old, however, as you will hear in the individual presentations in this session by the APF NHRIs from both New Zealand and India, our members are already undertaking extensive projects to give effect to the Declaration including:

- in the development of indicators, and

- monitoring SDGs in relation to a wide range of issues including disaster recovery, minimum living standards, poverty reduction, bonded labour and the right to health.

In performing these tasks our members are engaging with Government, the business sector and civil society.

With regards to the APF as a regional organisation, we have committed to support our individual NHRI members by:

  1. Developing capacity-building initiatives on the SDGs to support NHRIs to develop technical skills in relation to data collection, data analysis, statistics and indicators;
  2. Exchanging good practice case studies between NHRIs on a regular basis; and
  3. Contributing to the ICC Working Group on the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

In the view of the APF, independent and effective NHRIs can be powerful agents for change. They can use their complaint handling, investigation, advisory and education functions in relation to the SDGs, as well as engage with the international human rights system to draw attention to pressing issues.

Many of the APF’s activities are directed towards supporting our members to do this work as effectively as possible, by providing:

•Capacity assessments that enable our members to identify achievable steps to strengthen their institutions

•Training programs to build knowledge and skills that are central to the work of effective institutions

•Specialist programs tailored to the needs of individual members.

In relation to the SDGs the APF will develop and launch a combined online and face-to-face training program to equip our members with the necessary skills to engage effectively on SDG issues. At this stage we hope to run the pilot of this training program with our member NHRIs located in South East Asia. The National Human Rights Commission of Myanmar has agreed to host this training during the latter part of 2016. Subject to the evaluation of this pilot training the APF will then make it available to all its members across the region.

Thank you