The other side of SAARC
While the agreement on declaring South Asia a free trade zone with effect from January 2006 received much publicity, an equally important step was the signing of the SAARC Social Charter. The charter is being dubbed here as a landmark agreement. It not only acknowledges the prevalence of a range of social and economic issues marring human development in the region, it also requires member states (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives) to work closely to resolve them.
The 10-point Social Charter reflects the principal goal of the organisation: To promote the welfare of the people of South Asia in all fields. However, SAARC could not deliver on many of its agreed upon goals at the time of its formation in 1985 - primarily due to an environment of animosity that marred bilateral relations among its member states.
However, the pitfalls of globalisation coupled with the continuous decline in social and economic conditions have compelled SAARC to put aside bilateral issues, and take up regional integration as a priority. While the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) will help boost trade and economic activities in the region, the Social Charter will help re-invigorate cooperation in vital areas of human development.
”SAARC has rightly adopted a two-way approach for regional integration, one is economic and the other is social. Till the time economic growth starts to show results for people, the governments will have to intervene and work to ameliorate the living conditions of one-fifth of world’s poor that inhabit the region,” says Sarwar Bari, who heads Pattan Development Foundation, an organisation that works on issues of good governance.
Bari believes the charter could serve as a lynchpin for greater interaction among South Asian civil society and give them a regional common ground towards the achievement of its objectives. The charter seeks to improve the quality of life, accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development, and provide all individuals an opportunity to live with dignity and realise their full potential. It urges all member-states to prioritise social development and economic growth through legislative, executive and administrative frameworks.
With a view to inculcate a culture of cooperation and partnership, such an approach will enable the countries to immediately respond to the needs of those affected by human tragedy, the organisation hopes.
The key areas of cooperation identified in the charter include poverty alleviation, health, education, human resource development, youth mobilisation, women’s empowerment, child protection and well being, population stabilisation and drug de-addiction, rehabilitation and re-integration.
The seven member states will be able to benefit from each other in areas of their strength,” says an official in the Pakistani Foreign Office. “For example, Bangladesh could help the rest in the areas of micro-credit or population stabilisation, or Pakistan could help on the issues of women’s representation in political institutions.” He adds that details of the operationalisation of such cooperation will be discussed and finalised in the coming days.
As a follow-up to signing the charter, each member state will appoint a national coordination committee or put in place any other appropriate mechanism to work as a focal point towards implementation of its provisions.
The Charter binds SAARC states to maintain a social policy and strategy to ensure an overall and a balanced social uplift of their people. The states agree that the “obligations under the social charter shall be respected, protected, and fulfilled without any reservations and that the enforcement thereof at the national level shall be continuously reviewed through an agreed regional arrangement and mechanism.”
Although the Charter has been generally welcomed, there are people who believe there is room for improvement to make it more action-oriented and sharp in focus. “I have mixed feelings about this charter. It contains very good things, but it is ambiguous in certain areas,” says Dr Zafar Mirza, a leading development luminary in Pakistan. Mirza heads the Islamabad-based The Network for Consumer Protection.
It is indeed good that it requires member states to come out with much-needed social policies. Its emphasis on the legal frameworks for protecting basic needs of the people is also well placed. But somehow the text of the Charter does not give a coherent feeling about its vision,” observes Mirza.
Elaborating further, Mirza says that while it addresses education explicitly - encompassing underlying parameters and the issues to be tackled - it is ambiguous on health, women empowerment, child protection and safe drinking water. “The text is silent on how member states will go about the issues of access to essential drugs. Similarly, in the case of tobacco, increasing awareness about its harms is there, but it doesn’t go beyond that.” Stressing the need for improvements in the charter, Mirza calls upon civil society organisations in the region to scrutinise it with respect to their areas of interest and submit proposals to the SAARC secretariat. “In its current shape, it will be difficult for the civil society organisations to monitor the progress of its implementation.”Posted on: 2004-01-16 03:40
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Abin
His general strike is under way His group should follow their banda ...then mine... so you have to wait to announce a shutdown
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