ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR)

APHR initiated its inaugural three-year (2015-17) Parliamentarians for Regional Actions on Democracy and Human Rights in ASEAN (PRADHA) project with funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Open Society Foundations. PRADHA was then extended into 2018.  The project utilized a variety of tools to advocate for regional responses to human rights concerns, strengthen APHR’s institutional capacity and grow its membership, create sustainable changes within ASEAN countries, maximize the use of emerging technologies for social change, build a community of parliamentarians in ASEAN committed to human rights principles, and improve collaboration with key human rights actors in the region.  APHR engaged on key human rights issues in the region through implementation of program activities as well as consistent research and advocacy work. Below follows some examples of notable outcomes reported by APHR, structured by outputs.  Output 1.  Effective monitoring and response to serious human rights issues and violations using APHR’s advocacy and intervention strategies at regional and national levels.    The situation in Southeast Asia over the project period has been challenging,with a rise in authoritarianism and increasing restrictions on civil liberties and rights protections, especially the genocide against the Rohingya in Myanmar. APHR has sought to use its position to push for regional and international responses to end the persecution of the Rohingya, restore their rights and bring those responsible for the crimes against them to justice. APHR reports that the organization and its member MPs have become central actors in local and international efforts to address these violations, and that its work has been vital in pushing the issue onto the ASEAN and global agendas, working against the practice of "non-inteference". Media and social media impact has continued to grow year-on-year in international, regional and national outlets. Significantly, APHR strengthened its online presence as website visitors almost doubled from 2017 to 2018, while its reach and following on social media also rose dramatically.  From 2015-18 APHR’s press statements, op-eds, press conferences, media quotes, as well as other APHR outputs and activities received media coverage, growing year-on-year. The Programme Officer has previously commented on the good quality of APHR's communications, which perhaps explains the growing impact. The external evaluation from 2018 corroborates that APHR’s public advocacy is wellregarded, from its authoritative reports to its awareness-raising fact-finding missions. Also, its ability to access the media multiples the impact of APHR and others’ advocacy. A core component of APHR’s mission is to ensure that MPs are interacting with, learning from, and reflecting the voices of grassroots civil society and activists. APHR also aims to provide CSO partners with access to like-minded parliamentarians to help their advocacy efforts. Such engagement occurred during fact-finding missions, workshops, and conferences, as well as through dozens of one-on-one and small-group stakeholder meetings attended by APHR Secretariat staff throughout the year.  Fact-Finding Missions have been one of APHR’s most important advocacy and outreach, as well as capacity-building and networking activities. These missions allow MPs to deepen their understanding of human rights issues affecting the region, as well to put them in the same room as decisionmakers, activists and victims of human rights abuses they would not normally meet otherwise. APHR has arranged on average 2-3 fact-finding missions or country visits each year, on a range of issue and countries, including: religious freedom and rights of minorities and refugees (Myanmar, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia), large-scale investments and impacts and human rights and environmental impacts (Cambodia), democracy and fundamental freedoms, including the rights of parliamentarians (Cambodia, Thailand) and others. Output 2.  Strengthened capacities and network of APHR Members in addressing human rights issues at regional and national levels.  Under the PRADHA project, parliamentarians have been mobilized in advancing human rights and democracy in the region and achieving the overarching objectives of the project. APHR quickly exceeded its initial target of 40 members, reaching almost 100 by the end of the project period. As can be seen in the External Evaluation and Annual Donor Reports, over the past four years APHR, with the support of its partners, has established itself as a respected human rights organization, contributing significantly to ensuring parliamentarians’ role in advancing human rights and democracy in Southeast Asia. APHR reports that over the project period there was a steady and continued maturing of the organization and its members, playing significant roles, both publicly and behind the scenes, in confronting many of the key challenges facing the region today. From its position of strength, APHR has been able to have unique access to government officials, mobilize networks and civil society organizations, and draw media coverage on critical human rights issues.    Much of APHR’s advocacy work focuses on interaction with governments and national parliaments, often through its members. The organization arranged a number of meetings between its members and government officials, and also assisted members in making interventions to promote human rights in their respective parliaments. APHR reports that its mandate and membership base makes it uniquely placed to facilitate such interventions, and the      organization contributed to ensuring regional pressure on human rights issues. The Secretariat's ability to coordinate with relevant actors and work on behalf of and in support of legislators has managed to ensure that the voices of parliamentarians are included in planning and strategizing processes.  Output 3.  Improved collaboration and partnerships with key human rights actors, mechanisms and policymakers at global, regional and national levels  APHR has reported that due to the quality and reach of APHR’s public work and network building, the organization is becoming a go-to outfit for stakeholders seeking to work with parliamentarians on relevant issues. Over the course of 2018 APHR continued formal and informal joint projects with numerous organizations including but not exclusive to: the ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (APF), the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFoRB), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and the International Center for Not-For-Profit Law (ICNL). This list does not include many other groups from local civil society organizations to UN institutions, government actors, and international parliamentary bodies with whom APHR has developed strong working relationships and continues to collaborate on a regular basis across a range of issues and countries.  Output 4.  Effective APHR Board and Secretariat staff capable of managing and coordinating APHR’s priorities and programs based on established guidelines and systems.   APHR reports that it has managed to improve its organizational capacity during the period fo the project. With the support of Sida, APHR was able to undergo a systems Audit in Year 2 of the project which guided the implementation of professional processes and procedures, effectively turning the organization from a “start-up” mentality into a professionally run and respected organization able to attract and retain competent and committed staff. This is corroborated by the external evaluation from 2018, which similarly commends APHR's organizational capacity.  Challenges and risks APHR has identified existential threats to parliamentary democracy in the region (such as in Thailand and Cambodia for example) as a crucial challenge to the very model of the organization’s approach to human rights work: APHR cannot operate if there are no parliamentarians, or parliaments to work with. As such, APHR has increasingly focused its independent research and advocacy work on the rights of parliamentarians and advocating for their central role in advancing human rights and democracy. The organization has then identified this risk early on and attempted to mitigate it.  As APHR grows and becomes more and more a visibile and outspoken actor about human rights abuses in the region, especially through their public advocacy efforts, the risks of attacks increase for individuals (staff and members, particularly MP's that are engaged in the core work, such as board members). There are both digital and physical security risks that APHR will need to startegize around more as they move forward with their work.  Cross-cutting issues APHR has increasingly attempted to address the cross-cutting issues of gender, environment and climate change, as well as conflict sensitivity both internally and in its programmes. However,  APHR recognises that the original RAF lacks indicators on these issues, which the main reason for is the of organizational capacity to develop such.   Business and Human Rights as well as Environment and Climate Change have been given special emphasis in APHR's activities moving forward, with the decision to establish dedicated Working Groups based on these themes in 2019. In addition, APHR focused on recruiting more female parliamentarians as members and to the Board, and  encouraged their participation in several APHR events and workshops to achieve a gender balance.  There is still however a notable gender gap in the Board composition, where 80% are male members. With the foreseeable addition of a female MP from Timor-Leste as Board Member next year, this would increase the number of female Board Members from two to three. This is an issue that APHR seems aware of.  APHR recognizes that they will need to take on a more systematic approach to integrating cross-cutting issues and will prioritize such work during the coming years.  Embassy remarks:  To summarize, APHR reports that it has effectively delivered on all areas of the project, successfully improving regional responses to human rights concerns in ASEAN, monitoring the implementation of human rights obligations of the ASEAN member states and gaining support for parliamentarians’ initiatives in mainstreaming human rights approaches in ASEAN. As cited in the External Evaluation (and directly to APHR), many organizations and stakeholders at various levels have reaffirmed the important and unique role that parliamentarians (and APHR as a coordinating force) can play in seeking to advance human rights at various levels – in many senses justifying and substantiating the mission and objectives of the organization. Nevertheless, the Embassy has focused a lot of its' dialogue on the need for APHR to systemize more their approach to human rights   Only partly achieved output 3, APHR has mainly worked with peer organizations however, to achieve long-term effects and changes, APHR needs to be more active in engaging with core stakholders such as government counterparts and policymakers. APHR's reporting on its results is backed up by the external evaluation from 2018. For more detailed examples, see the Annual reports (2015-2018) as well as the external evaluation.

To provide core support to ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights to improve human rights protection and reduce human rights violations within Southeast Asia by 2030. The overall objective of APHRs work is to contribute to the shaping of regional responses human rights and Democracy in Southeast Asia, by exercising parliamentarians' role on representation, especially for those who are vulnerable and marginalized, and providing an oversight on democracy and human rights in ASEAN and its member countries.  On output level APHR aimed at achieving the following (based on logframe 2015-2017): 1) Effective monitoring and response to serious human rights issues and violations using APHR's advocacy and intervention strategies at regional and national levels.  2) Strengthened capacities and network of APHR members in adressing human rights issues at regional and national levels.  3) Improved colloboration and partnerships with key human rights actors, mechanisms and policymakers at global, reginal and national levels.  4)Effective APHR Board and Secretariat staff capable of managing and coordinating APHR's priorities and programs based on established guidelines and systems.