Joining the club : the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions, the Paris Principles, and the advancement of human rights protection in the region

The Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF or the Forum) is a membership organisation of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) from across the Asia Pacific region. As of early 2008 there were 14 full members and 3 associate members (one member, Fiji, had been suspended). The APF Constitution provides for three categories of members: full members, candidate members; and associate members. The underlying eligibility criterion for membership is compliance with the United Nations Principles Relating to the Status and Functions of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (the Paris Principles). Full membership is open to those NHRIs which comply with the Principles, candidate membership is available to those who do not do not fully comply with them but which could do so within a reasonable period of time, and associate membership is available to those NHRIs which do not comply with the Principles and are unlikely to do so within a reasonable period. This paper analyses the way in which APF membership criteria have been used by the Forum to ensure greater compliance by potential and existing members with the Paris Principles. It examines the operation of the APF as a quasi-governmental horizontal network in the light of the theory articulated by Anne-Marie Slaughter in A New World Order (2004). In particular, the paper examine whether the membership admission process has led to a greater embrace of the Paris Principles in practice, along the lines suggested by Slaughter’s analysis of such networks.