A/HRC/15/24 African Peer Review Mechanism and universal periodic review processes. Further, participants highlighted the need to further explore the complementarity between the two mechanisms with regard to the right to development, including through joint follow-up activities involving civil society. Inclusion of the right to development criteria in the reporting under the universal periodic review was also recommended by the high-level task force on the implementation of the right to development (A/HRC/15/WG.2/TF/2, para. 85). 15. In April 2010, the African Union held a seminar on the “Operationalization of the right to development” in Geneva. The meeting focused on, inter alia, the establishment of a framework for cooperation, sharing and interaction with regional organizations and/or institutions, as well as on examining and further elaborating areas of international cooperation toward the operationalization of the right to development. The seminar invited OHCHR to present an overview of its programme on the operationalization of the right to development, and to deliver a statement. When doing so, OHCHR stressed the vital importance of coherence of policy and action on the part of Member States in integrating the right to development into the work of the entire United Nations system, in particular to those entities with a mandate relevant to the right to development. 16. OHCHR organized the 15th Workshop of the Framework on Regional Cooperation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific Region, which was held in April 2010 in Bangkok, hosted by the Government of Thailand. The workshop was attended by representatives from national human rights institutions and civil society organizations, and delegates from more than 30 States. The regional framework is based on four pillars, namely, national human rights action plans, human rights education, national human rights institutions, and the right to development and economic, social and cultural rights. In its opening statement, OHCHR highlighted several aspects of the right to development, including international cooperation to support development efforts. 17. Further, at the request of UNECA, OHCHR contributed to the revision of the African Peer Review Mechanism questionnaire by proposing the inclusion of constituent principles of the right to development - non-discrimination, participation, transparency and accountability - and the need to pay due attention to the rights of women, indigenous peoples, minority groups and other marginalized and vulnerable groups. 18. In this regard, it should be noted that the task force recommended that the Working Group encourage regional initiatives and senior-level consultations involving regional institutions to integrate the right to development concerns and criteria into their policies and activities. Such regional consultations might also include the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and European human rights institutions as well as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights and the Arab Human Rights Committee (A/HRC/15/WG.2/TF/2, paras. 74 and 75). 4. Trade and human rights 19. At the World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum in September 2009, OHCHR co-sponsored and contributed to a panel discussion on “Human rights impact assessments: a pertinent tool for informing and improving trade governance?”. The panel discussion examined the conceptualization and implementation of human rights impact assessments compared to other types of assessments. Participants assessed the potential of human rights impact assessments to govern and shape trade policy and agreements in a manner beneficial to the realization of human rights and the right to development. The panel concluded that all WTO Member States are also signatories of various human rights treaties which require them to respect human rights while fulfilling their commitments under international trade law. 6