On January 15th, organizations from India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal convened to create a People's SAARC that would bring together people and organizations from South Asia that would focus on the needs of people of the region and influence policies to that end. This is a note from their gathering.
The South Asia People's Forum:" People's SAARC" held from January 15 to 17, 2005 brought together National and International social activists, intellectuals and secular and democrative forces interested in the preservation of the secular, pluralistic and democratic fabric of the South Asian society. The convention was organized by two Ashoka Fellows, one each Ashoka fellows from India (PVCHR- Dr. Lenin), and Srilanka (Wiros Lokh Institute- Dr. Darin) and human right defender from Nepal, Mr. Subodh Raj Pyakurel (INSEC).
This was a historical convention which resulted in creation of the "South Asian People's declaration", which we aim to submit to the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Summit involving Heads of States of the seven South Asian countries that make up the SAARC, being held in February, 2005.
" I was pleased to learn about the January Convention, and appreciate very much the invitation to take part……………….I hope it is successful."___ Noam Chomasky, Massachute Institute of Technology, Department of Linguistics and philosophy, Cambridge, USA
The delegation of the South Asian People's forum desiring people based policies for SAARC, (People's SAARC) met the SAARC Secretariat on 20th Jan., 2005.Ashoka fellow, Dr. Darin Gunesekara of Sri Lanka and Dr. Lenin Raghuvanshi of India, and Mr. Sajay of PVCHR called on Mr. Wijeratne, the Sri Lanka Director at SAARC in Kathmandu.Dr. Gunesekera and Lenin are signatories of the " Colombo Declaration" which preceded the Convention held in Varanasi creating the South Asian People's Forum (SAPF) and resolving the People's SAARC memorandum: South Asian People's Declaration. Human Rights commission of Pakistan, LOKOJ (Bangladesh), People's forum for Human Rights (Bhutan), Wiros Lokh Institute (Sri Lanka), PVCHR (India) and INSEC (Nepal) are members of working committee of SAPF.
They presented Mr. Wijerantne with the memorandum with a request for circulation to the member country Directors. They also handed over to him the original banner of the Child Rights March that was held to inaugurate the Convention in Vararnasi. The Marchers and children signed the Banner. These included persons from all of the SAARC countries excepting Tsunami stricken Maldives.
The Memorandum is attached and included a statement of Child Rights as considered most pressing amongst Child Rights activists in the SAARC region.
The Memorandum highlights the considered opinions and views of over 40 leadings activist groups who assembled in Varanasi. The issues are stated in concise form and are stated as topics. The Forum demands further consideration of these issues.
Since the start of SAARC, there has been a need for the voice of the people to be directly heard in the region. And this, SAPF said, was the start. The Forum would be organiasing a rising tide of opinion and views for the development of a people's SAARC movement. SAPF wanted the politicians and opinion leaders to take note of the rise of a new phenomenon in South Asia. The People's SAARC, SAPF advised, will be the mainstay of the future of SAARC, not trade arrangements, which have little to say beyond globalisation. But people issues are bigger than that. SAPF advanced that the issues of the future are the Globalisation of sensitivities.
I have attached the Declaration and Resolutions and will greatly appreciate you comments, feedback on it.
South Asian people's Declaration
The People's Vision
We, the South Asian People's Forum, desiring that SAARC embody the aspirations of the People, aver the need for greater efforts for promoting the sovereignty of the People and violence free South Asia through democratic values and structures.
We envision a SAARC that encompasses all people living in South Asia and promote greater understanding and equal respect of all people to eliminate discriminations based on gender, creed, caste, ethnicity and color.
We also insist on declaring South Asia as nuclear free zone.
Our Mission
We promote peace and understanding of disputes, and efforts for settling them amicably at the popular level.
We firmly demand urgent and complete de-nuclearization of South Asia.
We uphold social democracy, secular values, and economic equity and envision sustainable development.
We advocate greater efforts to prevent environmental degradation, and optimum and equitable utilization of resources for the benefit of the people, providing them adequate space to influence and participate in decisions on resource use and management.
We endorse the inalienable right of the People of South Asia to basic needs including food, clothing, shelter, health, education, social security and productive work.
We advocate people to people communication facilities and an end to travel restrictions.
Major concerns
Democracy
We cherish and uphold the Rule of Law, sovereignty of the people, a system of governance that ensures devolution of power, People's right to self-rule and control over resources.
We advocate full independence of the judiciary, adhering to internationally recognized values and principles. Pro-people lawmaking has to be participatory, representative and fully transparent.
We believe that People have sovereign rights to take decisions on matters concerning their lives, and urge periodic review of all international commitments and national laws to enable people to exercise sovereignty.
We maintain that governance improvements have to begin and end with the People and that empowerment can result only when power is devolved through effective structural changes.
We also maintain that existing social, economic and political imbalances hinder nation building and that the legislature, executive and the judiciary must be fully inclusive and accountable to the People.
We believe People are the real owners of resources and support mechanisms to make them rightful owners of resources through systems that ensure collective ownership and responsibility.
We uphold the People's right to information through participation in decision-making and governance.
We believe that internal and external displacement is caused by political, social and developmental factors and any attempt to end displacement should begin with addressing the root causes.
We assert that refugees are sovereign people with sovereign identities and they need to be provided guarantees of protection, dignity and access to basic services until final resolution and/ or repatriation.
We are concerned by the increase in human trafficking (including children, women and marginalized communities) in the region and call for receiving countries to take on responsibility for repatriation and compensation of the victims.
Discrimination
We affirm that discrimination based on gender, caste, creed, and ethnicity and differently able is a major obstacle to meaningful participation of People.
We endorse patriarchy-free South Asia, and support the individual's right to self-determination and development and uphold their duty to national integration.
We resolve for an immediate and effective end to untouchability, the worst form of discrimination and demand interventions as follows:
Ø Programs for the uplift of the Dalits and mechanisms to empower them for their rights.
Ø Reservations, in public as well as the private sector, to ensure participation of all at all levels starting from primary schooling and across all spheres of life.
Ø Reservations to enable at least 33% representation of women (including Dalits) in all spheres of private and public life and an end to all forms of discrimination against women.
Ø Discrimination to be considered a real life problem.
Ø Review of existing laws and modifications to incorporate the implementation of international instruments.
Ø Equal respect for religious, ethnic and cultural minorities.
We appreciate the changes being discussed for the uplift of women by Islamic groups and will provide support to encourage and facilitate further changes.
We ask for inclusion of rights and security concerns of migrant workers in the SAARC Social Charter.
Food sovereignty
We believe the right to food is a fundamental right and must be assured through guarantees to equality in work, justice and uniform minimum wages, and land entitlement.
We recommend that relief and aid should be culturally sensitive and value adding, and uphold that hunger and starvation are unacceptable.
Globalization and International Finance and Trade
We believe the existing policies of multilateral aid and trade organizations are anti-people and perpetuate unemployment, poverty and inequalities.
We advocate that all aid and trade agreements and instruments be subject to public scrutiny to ensure transparency and accountability.
We uphold the need for collective SAARC representation and uniform standards for negotiations on aid and trade instruments and the formulation of a common social responsibility standard to govern FDI.
We oppose privatization, particularly that of social infrastructure.
We oppose Foreign Direct Investment without effective social controls and strongly endorse the promotion of small and medium enterprises through people's markets.
We believe the World Trade Organization is not ratified by the people and advocates only freedom of capital, and ask SAARC to work towards the democratization of the WTO through inclusion of civil society organizations in negotiations.
We ask SAARC to move towards the creation of an economic community to suit the people's interest and step back from free trade envisaged under the SAFTA, which is an extension of the WTO model.
We believe that the existing ownership of intellectual property and laws governing violations are flawed and advocate stiff penalties for those infringing into the traditional knowledge and services belonging to developing countries.
Child rights
We uphold the Right of the Child as defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and believe the child is an integral part of society, has the potential to be an agent of social change and all children have the right to participate in issues concerning them and be heard.
We believe a child's right to survival and health is of paramount importance to the progress of the country, and maintain that the child's right to development be upheld through free and compulsory education, including vocational training, and recreation without discrimination for all and in a child-friendly environment.
We demand that a child's right to protection be upheld through the abolition of child labor, abusive forms of punishment and all forms of discrimination with special focus on differently-abled children.
We demand that the juvenile justice system be child friendly and be strictly implemented in the region.
We demand immediate resolution of existing social, cultural, economic and political factors that promote the trafficking of children.
We advocate areas where children frequent be declared zones of peace to enable them to grow in peaceful and secure environments.
We oppose involvement of children in all forms of violent conflicts.
Varanasi, 17 Jan. 2005
Endorsed by INSEC (Nepal), PVCHR (India), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, LOKOJ (Bangladesh), Wiros Institute (Srilanka), People's forum for Human Rights (Bhutan) and nearly 250 prominent organisations and individuals of South Asia
Date: 17-1-2005
Resolutions
Resolution-1
The Gandhian Institute of Studies, Varanasi, established by Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan, is one of the premier Social Science Research Institutions of India, which aims at linking people's movements with social sciences. This Institute has been struggling against the regressive action of the former central government, which stopped its grants and locked the Institute offices. Now the Institute is returning to its normal function in the camp office with the positive efforts made by the present central government. However main building of office, guesthouse, etc. are still locked, which is hampering research and other activities of the Institute.
We, from South Asia People's Forum appeal central government of India and SAARC countries to stopped such regressive action against democratic public institutions and demand immediate restoration of normal functioning of the institute in the interest of the people.
Resolution-2
Women in Afghanistan have been victims of extreme and systematic discrimination over the years having been denied even the most basic of rights. Revolutionary Association for Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) has been working for the rights of millions of these invisible Afghagan women, whose voices have been stifled while being subjected to inhumane treatment behind closed doors. RAWA'S courage under these difficult circumstances is commendable and we the South Asia People's Forum would like to extend our full support to their cause of democracy and women rights. We the members also express strong solidarity with RAWA's movement for a secular and democratic Afghanistan. We also like to draw the attention of the Afghanistan Government to ensure the security and free movement of RAWA activists.
Resolution-3
Military rule in Pakistan has established a controlled democracy which is a contradiction in it self. We members of South Asia People's Forum demand that as guaranteed by the constitution of Pakistan "Principles of democracy" are upheld and the state should only be allowed to exercise its powers through the representatives chosen by the people through a free fair electoral process.
We also recommend that the Oath of Judges under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) should be termed unconstitutional and Judges should take fresh Oath in order for the judiciary to be independent. We also demand that Politics and Religion should be separated only a secular state can only guarantee rights of all the minorities. South Asia People's Forum also raises its voice against existing discriminatory laws against women and minorities, which should be repealed. International instruments ratified by the government (CEDAW & CRC) are respected and implemented in policies for the women and children.
Resolution-4
We the members of the South Asia People's Forum urge the Indian Government to actively co-operate and assist in solving the Bhutanese Refugee problem as Bhutan's Foreign and Defense Policy are in India's hands. We also demand that repatriation of all Bhutanese Refugees with safety, security, dignity and honor to their original home state.
Resolution-5
We the members of South Asia People's Forum condemn the attempts to privatization of water, water linking and international water laws in the region and instead declare that water be declared a common human resource in every region.
Resolution-6
Despite the very bad experience of the Asian Crisis and collapse in ASEAN affecting all the workers and poor adversely SAARC Nations have been following the same policies of absolute free capital markets.
So we the members of South Asia People's Forum declared that SAARC Nations should foster people's stock exchanges and governments ensure that freedom in capital market does not lead to a collapse due to international financial manipulations.
Resolution-7
Pepsi and Coca-Cola bottling is a threat to under ground water resources which belong to the common people. 6 liters of water is required for producing 1 liters of Coca-Cola and Pepsi cola. Such drinks are not healthy. The bottling has displaced a large number of self-employed people and village-based industries.
Therefore the member of South Asia People's Forum appeal to all concerned to boycott Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola and other related drinks.
