APHR Core Support 2019-2024 APHR Kärnstöd 2019-2024 ASEAN Parliamentarys for Human Rights (APHR) has to the Embassy submitted an application for continued core support of the amoun 10,500,000  SEK which will be used to implement their Strategic Plan during the period 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021. The support aims to promote democratic development and enhance respect for human rights in Southeast Asia through increased capacity and ability of parliamentarians and ex-parliamentarians in the ASEAN countries to work towards a more open, more equitable and sustainable region based on a rights based approach. The initiative is expected to contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Development Agenda by broadening the knowledge of human rights, gender equality and the use of the rights perspective in parliamentary work. The initiative is a support to the Secretariat of the regional human rights organization ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, a non-governmental non-profit organization with headquarters and registration in Jakarta. APHR has received core support from the embassy since December 2014 and has been able to carry out its work with good quality during the previous agreement period and has been able to deliver and report in accordance with agreed results through. These results have been validated through an evaluation conducted in June 2018, confirming APHR's added value in the region.

According to the APHR Strategic Plan and Application, the support will be funding APHR's core costs and implementation of core activities to achieve the overall goal "ASEAN parliamentarians promote and protect democracy, human rights and equitable and sustainable development in the region." This goal is achieved through the underlying goals; that parliamentarians actively cooperate with civil society on these issues, that they strategically and consistently use their position as parliamentarians to pursue these issues, and that they cooperate across national borders within the ASEAN region and in solidarity with each other. Activities will be carried out in the field of; education and capacity-building efforts, advocacy work and research. ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) till ambassaden inkommit med en ansökan om fortsatt stöd på 10 500 000 SEK för att genomföra sin Strategiska plan under perioden 1 januari 2019 till 31 December 2021. Insatsen syftar till att främja demokratisk utveckling och öka respekten för mänskliga rättigheter i Sydostasien, genom ökad kapacitet och förmåga hos parlamentariker och ex-parlamentariker i ASEAN- länderna att arbeta mot en öppnare, mer jämställd och hållbar region utifrån en rättighetsansats. Insatsen förväntas bidra till genomförandet av utvecklingsagendan 2030 genom att bredda kunskapen om mänskliga rättigheter, jämställdhet och användning av rättighetsperspektivet inom parlamentariskt arbete. Insatsen utgörs av ett känstöd till sekretariatet för den regionala MR- organisationen ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights som är en icke-statlig, icke-vinstdrivande organisation med huvudkontor och registering i Jakarta. APHR har tagit emot kärnstöd från ambassaden sedan december 2014 och har under nuvarande avtalsperiod kunnat genomföra sitt arbete med god kvalitet samt har genom årlig rapportering till ambassaden kunnat redovisa och rapportera i enlighet med överenskomna resultat. Dessa resultat har validerats genom en utvärdering som genomfördes i juni 2018 och som bekräftar APHRs mervärde i regionen. 

Enligt APHR's Strategiska Plan och ansökan till ambassaden kommer stödet att gå till finansiering APHRs kärnkostnader och genomförande av aktiviteter för att uppnå det övergripande målet  "Parlamentariker i ASEAN - regionen främjar och skyddar demokrati, mänskliga rättigheter och en rättvis och hållbar utveckling i regionen". Detta mål uppnås genom underliggande mål; att  parlamentariker aktivit samarbetar med civilsamhället i dessa frågor, att de strategiskt och konsekvent använder sin position som parlamentariker för att driva dessa frågor,  samt att de samarbetar över nationella gränser inom ASEAN-regionen och i solidaritet. Aktiviteter kommer att genomföras inom området; utbildning och kapacitetsstärkande insatser, påverkansarbete, forskning och studier. The core support from Sweden is supporting Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) Strategic Framework (Extension phase 2022-2024). APHR:s Strategic Framework have been revised since the decision on support was taken in 2019, and the version submitted to the Embassy in July 2022 is currently the one in use.

APHR's vision, as stated in the Framework, is: "An inclusive ASEAN regional community that is genuinely committed to democracy, human rights, and equitable and sustainable development."

The mission of APHR is: "To empower parliamentarians to promote and protect democracy, human rights, and quitable and sustainable development in the ASEAN region". 

The goal: "Parliamentarians of ASEAN countries, supported by APHR, contribute to advancing democracy, human rights and equitable and sustainable development in the ASEAN region".

APHR has identified three strategic objectives for its work in the ASEAN region: 

Short term Objective 1: MPs progress laws and policies in their countries. This objective relates to MPs fulfilling their representative mandate around legislative and budget adoption, as well as policy makers and influencers. APHR will ensure that MPs take concrete steps to initiate or influence legislative processes in their country, as part of their parliamentary mandates, and influence law drafting and policy-making by promoting positive rights narratives and democratic principles in the legislative and executive branches. Pushing for legislative change is an area that has great potential considering this is a type of outcome that would be unique to an organization made up of MPs.

Short term Objective 2: MPs hold stakeholders and perpetrators to account through public and private actions. This objective relates to MPs fulfilling their government oversight mandate. This is an area that APHR is already seeing positive results in, and is essentially focused on MPs standing up and speaking out against human rights violations, both in their own country but also within the region. MPs have unique ways of holding perpetrators to account: through official channels (such a submitting parliamentary questions, setting up investigations or inquiries), through private advocacy, and also through leveraging their public profile (such as by signing on to public statements, taking part in high-level missions, writing media outputs or any other public channel available to them). This objective will include holding governments to account as well as other relevant stakeholders (i.e. ASEAN, executive and corporate actors).

Short term Objective 3: MPs contribute to building and strengthening a cooperative human rights community in the region. This is an objective that is not directly related to MPs parliamentary mandate - but it is ensuring APHR is acting in collaboration with others, and thus strengthening participatory democracy in the region. APHR will do this through engaging meaningfully with civil society organizations, other MPs in the region, and other relevant stakeholders, to work for the promotion of human rights and democracy. To achieve this objective, APHR should need to grow and diversify its membership by recruiting new members, take part in planning activities, join national caucuses, engage in peer-learning and exchanges across countries. Through APHR membership, MPs can benefit from the expertise of peers in other countries and also share their own experience with others, building a community of mutual support and strengthening solidarity among like-minded MPs.