National human rights institutions (NHRIs) across the world shoulder the responsibility to advocate and protect human rights including gender equality and rights of women and girls.

However, not much is discussed about the status of gender equality and gender responsiveness within the NHRIs. Amid this backdrop, the National Human Rights Commission, together with the Asia Pacific Forum, is holding an International Conference on Gender Inclusiveness in NHRIs to discuss gender mainstreaming within the national human rights institutions.

The representatives of the NHRIs from 19 of the 26 countries are the members of the Asia Pacific Forum, an association of human rights organisations from the Asia Pacific region. Nawaraj Sapkota, joint-secretary at the commission, said around 150 representatives from different organisations including 36 foreign delegates will participate in the three-day event.

The event to kick off on September 3 is only the second international conference of its kind to be held in the Asia Pacific region. Earlier it was held in Amman, the capital of Jordan.

“Along with the discussions on several aspects of gender responsiveness and its mainstreaming, the event will also analyse the implementation status of the Amman Declaration in 2012,” said Lily Thapa, a member of the commission. Twelve years back, the NRIs in the region had unanimously committed to prioritising and mainstreaming the human rights of women and girls and gender equality throughout all their strategic planning process, policies, programme and activities.

This includes developing and implementing training for NHRI members and staff on gender equality and reviewing their internal structures to achieve gender equality at all levels and in all aspects of their work.

Thapa said the three days of discussion will focus on integrating the gender perspective into NHRIs’ external function, including areas of policy and legislative review, human rights advice, human rights education, monitoring the implementation of human rights commitments, thematic inquiries and investigations, and engagement with international human rights bodies.

It will also discuss devising strategies for engaging and collaborating with diverse stakeholders – government, civil society and the private sector.

The conference will also explore the development tools like human rights indicators for promoting gender equality and advocacy for a comprehensive gender strategy.

Advocacy and awareness initiatives targeting government officials, parliamentarians and key decision makers to foster a more gender-sensitive approach in public policy and administration is another focus of the conference.

“The adverse effect of climate change in attaining gender equality is another issue that needs to be discussed,” said Lily Thapa, a member of the commission. The conference will end on September 5 with the Kathmandu Declaration, which will be a guideline for the NHRIs to move ahead.