The Asia Pacific Forum (APF) sub-regional office was inaugurated yesterday in Doha by Dr Ali bin Smaikh al-Marri, chairman of the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) along with APF Secretariat director Kieren Fitzpatrick.
On the sidelines of the opening, Dr al-Marri stressed that Qatar is a good place for human rights work, and NHRC plays a key role in enhancing the protection of human rights not only locally but also on the regional and international levels.
He pointed out that the new sub-regional office acts as a branch for APF, which covers all national human rights organisations in Asia and Pacific region. The office will be concerned with technical and administrative matters, but not with observing the status of human rights in any of the areas under its jurisdiction.
However, in co-operation with concerned entities, it would conduct documented studies on the issues independent of ‘any unreliable media reports that promote particular agendas.’
The APF is a coalition of 22 national human rights institutions from all parts of the region, including NHRC.
Dr al-Marri said that NHRC’s hosting the APF office indicates its commitment to maintain close co-operation with its regional partners.
The opening ceremony was attended by representatives from United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Fund, the Arab Network for Human Rights, GCC countries and the civil societies organisations at the Arab countries.