The story behind the establishment of an institution largely defines its vision, mission and goal. The story also reveals the context that supported the establishment of such institution.
The same must be true of the human rights centers in Asia and the Pacific. There should be stories of people whose vision and commitment to realize their vision led to the establishment of human rights centers. There should be stories of human rights violations that led people to see the need to have an institution that would promote human rights and address the violations.
Some institutions developed their human rights center function after years of providing human rights protection services. More recently, others saw the viability of promoting human rights solely through the current internet technology (website in particular), a new facet in the work of human rights centers.
Among the human rights centers, there is the basic objective of helping people understand human rights through presentations on human rights principles, reports on human rights violations, and discussions on concrete efforts to counter them.