A/HRC/7/35 page 6 denial of human rights, and that in order to reduce poverty, the poor must be empowered, through strategies which focus on participation and accountability. It also covered the State’s obligations to respect, fulfil (which includes promote and provide) and protect human rights, as well as issues of progressive realization and accountability mechanisms, such as formal, informal, judicial and non-judicial mechanisms. 11. The second presentation focused on United Nations initiatives on poverty reduction through a human rights lens. It highlighted the document “Draft guiding principles ‘Extreme poverty and human rights: the rights of the poor’”, which is under circulation for comments with a view to submission to the Human Rights Council. The guiding principles underscore that poverty and extreme poverty are violations of human rights, promote the participation of the poor in all initiatives to eliminate poverty, and emphasize the indivisibility and interdependence of human rights, as well as the State’s obligations in combating poverty. The presentation also explained how United Nations human rights mechanisms, including the treaty body system, the special procedures and independent experts, have focused on the elimination of poverty in their work. 12. The presentations were followed by an active discussion on the theme of human rights and extreme poverty. It was acknowledged that growth strategies were not sufficient in and of themselves but needed to be accompanied by social and legal development. The importance of a global economic environment which facilitated advances in the right to development and human rights more broadly was also underscored. The meeting reviewed progress in debates by the task force on the implementation of the right to development and the Working Group on the Right to Development. The Principles and Guidelines for a Human Rights Approach to Poverty Reduction Strategies published by the Office, which outline guidelines for integrating specific human rights standards, strategies, key targets and indicators for monitoring and implementation of specific human rights with a direct bearing on poverty eradication, were discussed as a useful tool for policymakers. III. THE FUTURE OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL FRAMEWORK: NEXT STEPS, ADOPTION OF THE ACTION POINTS, AND CLOSING OF THE WORKSHOP 13. Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn gave a presentation entitled “Exploring the Window of Opportunities: Evolving a Framework for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific Region”. It emphasized the future challenges for the Asia-Pacific Regional Framework, taking into consideration recent initiatives by regional organizations, such as ASEAN, to develop subregional arrangements, reforms to the United Nations human rights system and human rights mainstreaming within United Nations country programming, as well as the expansion of the Office’s field presence in the region. This was followed by an interactive discussion in which many participants endorsed the concept of “workshop plus”, which would provide for more experimentation in the format of meetings and greater intersessional preparation, dialogue and follow-up. Discussions also indicated general support for greater contact and inclusion of regional organizations in the process.