This report contains all the activities of SEANF members carried out during the Chairman period of 2019-2020 that was taken by Komnas HAM. Its content is including the brief history of SEANF and the documents that have been produced and have agreed upon between SEANF Members.
The Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institutions Forum (SEANF) serves as a consultative body for human rights institutions across the Southeast Asia region. The forum was initially established through the signing of the Declaration of Cooperation in Bali, Indonesia, on June 28, 2007. This declaration was signed by four founding human rights institutions: Indonesia’s Komnas HAM, Malaysia’s SUHAKAM, the Philippines’ CHRP, and Thailand’s NHRCT. These four institutions collectively referred to themselves as the ASEAN Four NHRIs.
During the 4th Consultative Meeting of the ASEAN Four in Manila, Philippines, in 2008, the forum officially adopted the name ASEAN NHRI Forum, with the ASEAN Four NHRIs serving as its pioneers.
In November 2009, during a meeting in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) agreed to rename the forum once again, this time to SEANF. The primary goal of SEANF is to unite its members as a regional mechanism for the protection, promotion, and fulfillment of human rights, ensuring their effective implementation for communities across Southeast Asia.
The operational framework of SEANF is guided by the SEANF Rules of Procedures (RoP), which were last amended provisionally on November 10, 2017, during the 14th Annual Conference in Manila. SEANF’s activities are also informed by its Strategic Planning, initially covering 2012-2016 and later updated for 2017-2021.