EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES)
ACT 1963 - ASIAN AND PACIFIC DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
(PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES) REGULATIONS
Statutory Rules 1983 No. 132 Issued by Authority of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
The purpose of these Regulations is to accord the Asian and Pacific Development Centre (the Centre) juridical personality and legal capacity.
The Centre was established in Kuala Lumpur in July 1980 by the integration of four previously existing regional training and research institutions which functioned under the auspices of the Economic and Social Commission for Asian and the Pacific (ESCAP). These were:
- The Asian and Pacific Development Institute
- The Asian and Pacific Development Administration Centre
- The Social Welfare and Development Centre for Asia and the Pacific
- The Asian and Pacific Centre for Women and Development.
The Centre is a training and research institution on a regional level. Its research function is handled in two ways; firstly by in-house researchers on topics where a regional
research effort is most appropriate and secondly through the encouragement of research among institutions in the region on current development issues and problems. The training functions are carried out by training at the Centre and in other training institutions in the region. The Centre will also provide a consultancy service in co-operation with national institutions and will operate as a clearing house for information on development.
For the first three years of its existence the Centre has been a United Nations subsidiary body under the aegis of ESCAP; after 1 July 1983 it became an independent intergovernmental organisation. The APDC has a Governing Council made up of member governments which appoints a Management Board for the Centre and decides the Centre’s activities.
The Charter cannot be signed until all necessary steps have been taken to give effect to it in Australian law. Article IV(1) of the Charter requires Australia to accord the Centre juridical personality and legal capacity. These Regulations will have that effect.