By Mohammed Osman
DOHA: Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Right Institutions (APF) yesterday opened its sub regional office at the National Human Right Committee (NHRC) premises here.
Qatar is a member of APF, which is a coalition of national human rights institutions, with 22 countries as members, from across the Asia-Pacific Region. The opening ceremony was attended by several senior government officials and representatives of regional and international human right institutions.
The office, on the eighth floor of NHRC headquarters, is tasked with a mainly technical role related to capacity-building rather than monitoring human rights situation in the region, NHRC chairman Dr Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri said on the sidelines of the opening ceremony.
“However, our cooperation with the APF and Arab Network for National Human Rights Institutions (ANNHRI) will allow us to conduct documented and balanced studies about the labour situation here far from some hidden agendas and media statements,” Al Marri said, when asked about the possible role of the new office in monitoring the living conditions of expatriate labourers in Qatar.
The opening of the office was officially announced at a joint press conference attended by Al Marri and APF Director Kieren Fitzpatrick.
Al Marri pointed out that having the APF sub regional office and the ANNHRI also shows that Qatar has created suitable environment for the work of human rights institutions, an achievement which was not possible without the strong support of the political leadership of the country.
APF promotes establishment of independent national human rights institutions in the Asia Pacific region and support members to be as effective as possible with support from the competent government entities, civil society organizations, media and international organizations such as UN, said Al Marri.
The launch of two days training workshop was also announced yesterday. The work shop is being attended by fifty trainees from West and South Asia and is run conducted by experts from the APF who will address topics such as establishment of human right institutions according to Paris principles.
“We have a schedule of training for this year in Qatar and in other states that have human right institutions, like Jordan and Palestine” said Fitzpatrick speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of the event.
The sub-regional office will undertake a range of training and capacity building projects for member national human rights institutions based in West Asia and North Africa, he added.
In his opening speech, Al Marri pointed out that NHRC was selected for the position of the vice chairman of the APF for 2013-2015 and the idea of opening the sub-regional office of APF came during this period, which led to signing an MoU with the Forum.
The forum helps national institutions in the region in order to help every person enjoy fair treatment with respect, live free from violence and discrimination and have opportunities and make choices in life.
The Peninsula
