E-Kantipur

The 17th Saarc summit starts today in Male, the capital of Maldives and an endangered island. This is a good time to mull over the Saarc’s future course. Although there have been some progress in regional trade and economic cooperation, Saarc has failed in its goals enunciated in the objectives of its charter to improve the quality of life of the people in South Asia. Since its inception, it has never taken seriously the issues of democracy, human rights and good governance. The entire idea of Saarc seems to center around mere technical and economic cooperation in the region.

In the past, some eminent citizens and intellectuals used to dismiss the Saarc as a club of dictators and so-called democratically elected but unaccountable leaders of the South Asia. It was heavily influenced by the cold war between two blocks in global political order. The individual member states were more influenced by the power blocks than by the vision of Saarc as an organisation. However, two decades after the end of the so-called cold war, Saarc remains almost unaltered. Today, the political situations have changed and many member states have adopted democracy. It’s time for Saarc to formally focus on human rights and democratic agendas.

The Saarc charter makes provisions that the political system of its member countries is not a subject of formal discussion in the regional forum. No doubt, this is a sensitive subject. Nevertheless, the leaders of the region should make commitments at least at a general level in favor of democracy and human rights within the Saarc framework. This can be done by adapting the principles, provisions, structures and the processes of the body. The 16th Thimppu Summit in Bhutan showed some hopes that Saarc starts adoption of the human rights and democratic agenda, partly a result of overwhelming pressure from South Asian civil society. All the human rights activists and democratic aspirants, including I, were hoping that the “Saarc Charter on Democracy and Human Rights” was going to be adopted in Male. Unfortunately, the charter is not even in the list of agenda for the present summit.

The fact that Saarc charter does not mention democracy, human rights and the system of government it wishes to see is not unnatural if one looks at the backgrounds of its founding leaders. But there is no need to continue such legacy now.

The charter comes close to making a statement that may remotely resemble an ideology just once. Under Article I of the charter, it states the need “to provide all individuals opportunity to live in dignity and to realise their full potentials”. However, Saarc doesn’t possess the mechanisms necessary to realise such goal. Also, given the nature of leaders in South Asia, such “concession” is only a part of the routine where they feel obliged to talk about people’s participation, economic, social and cultural development while fully aware that they can interpret such commitment to suit their convenience. This way, they feel they do not have to further commit themselves to internationally recognised civil liberties, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

There is a serious need to review the principles of Saarc to address these issues. First, Saarc should address the issues of human rights standard and guidelines for the region. A regional human rights ombudsman in the region such as “Human Rights Council of Saarc” should be immediately established. Second, it has to work toward in establishing a democratic system to ensure human rights and good governance to fulfill the objectives contained in the charter. For this, “Saarc Charter on Democracy and Human Rights” should be adopted within Saarc framework. 

Doing so isn’t easy. India’s role, in particular, is significant. As the biggest and oldest functioning democracy in the region with tremendous economic clout it is certainly in a position to steer Saarc toward adopting universal norms in democracy and human rights.  India cannot neglect these two issues anymore as it wishes to be decisive regional power in South Asia.

Most importantly, the South Asian political leadership will not generally be ready to take initiatives of this nature. There is a clear need for the South Asian civil society to intervene in the Saarc process. True civil society without prejudice of so-called ‘nationalism’ can play a pivotal role in finding regional solutions to the many outstanding issues of human rights and democracy in the region.

Bhurtel is author The Challenges and Prospect of Nepali Political Economy: Some Reflections

bhurtel_bp@hotmail.com

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