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Final statement from the second South Asian People's Summit January 7, 2002, Kathmandu

We the people of South Asia, representing Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in all 125 representatives who were gathered here in Kathmandu for the last four days between 3rd and 6th January, 2002 participated in the second South Asian People's Summit.

The People's Summit focused on three main themes;

1. Combatting trafficking in women and children

2. Control of proliferation, circulation and trafficking of small arms and light weapon

3. Globalisation and regional co-operation

The civil society leaders especially from the NGO sector and some representatives from the Police, Army and Governments elaborated on the above themes and discussed in groups. The conclusions of the debate were presented in the plenary, discussed and adopted as attached.

The second South Asian People's Summit was held at the same time as the SAARC summit where the heads of Governments had their discussions.

1. We the participants of the Second South Asian People's Summit welcome and appreciate the acknowledgement of Their Excellencies, the leaders of the SAARC nations, the important role played by the civil society in eradicating poverty and furthering the aims and objectives of SAARC as referred to in the 11th SAARC declaration.

"They also pledge to enhance transparency and accountability in governance and to encourage effective participation of the peoples and civil societies in the formulation as well as implementation of the programs of the co-operation. The leaders also agreed to ..... ensure participation of the poor, both as stake-holder and beneficiary, in governance and development process. They reaffirmed their pledge to undertake effective and sustain poverty alleviation programs through pro-poor growth strategy".

We urge in all our countries that the consequential enabling environment is created for the effective participation of the people.

2. We request the SAARC leaders to settle unresolved conflicts in the region, which are hindering regional co-operation and participation of the people in the governance structures.

We accept this challenge and would be happy to assist the SAARC secretariat in the promotion of peace, justice and equality in our region.

3. We appreciate the agreement reached by the heads of the state and governments to give effect to the vision of a phased and planned process eventually leading to a South Asian Economic Union.

We would encourage the SAARC to move a step further in creating conditions promoting South Asian Social Union.

4. We appreciate the SAARC leaders for signing the two conventions relating to women and children. We would strongly recommend the heads of the Governments to mandate the SAARC secretariat to draft and propose legally binding regional instrument to eradicate illicit proliferation, circulation and trafficking of small arms and light weapon which adversely affects the lives of the people in our region.

5. We are concerned that the SAARC process does not provide the opportunity for civil society participation in the SAARC process. We urge that the institutional mechanisms are evolved to ensure the participation of the people and set in place immediately. The participants of the people's summit are committed to the dialogue with the SAARC secretariat in providing scope for creating institutional mechanisms.

Small arms statement

1. We are concerned at the continued violence and the killings of people, especially women and children through the use of illegal arms. The response of the State will further escalate the situation by violating the fundamental rights of the people at large.

2. We call upon the South Asian Civil Society to become more aware of this situation and impress upon their government of this menace.

3. To promote peace and harmony among SAARC nations, the media can play the vital role of educating the people and the governments on the evil effects and consequences of the use of small arms and to play a vital role in the peace building process.

4. We call upon the Governments to promote the culture of peace and tolerance and reflect the same in educational curriculum in their countries and curb the depiction and glorification of weapons in public and media (film, cartoon).

5. We call upon the Governments of South Asia to involve the civil society and establish mechanisms for community participation for the recovery, deweaponisation and destruction of illegal weapons.

6. We demand the Governments to take stringent actions against illegal productions of small arms.

7. Finally, we call upon the South Asian Governments to mandate the SAARC Secretariat to draft the purpose legally binding regional instruments necessary for eradicating the illicit proliferation, circulation and trafficking of small arms and light weapons, and establish the co-ordinating agencies to monitor and review the same.

Combating trafficking in women and children

We, the representatives of civil society networks and organisations from five South Asia countries - Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India would like to recognise and welcome the signing of the SAARC convention on preventing and combating trafficking in women and children for prostitution. In doing so you have shown your commitment to jointly combat a grave problem faced by the region directly and by addressing the root causes including poverty, unemployment and social exclusion. We would also like to congratulate you for clearly outlining the measures to prevent and interdict trafficking in women and children and the care, treatment, rehabilitation and repatriation of the victims.

However, we would like to draw your attention to the following in the convention and urge you to make the necessary amendment to further clarify the scope and mandate of the convention:

* The title of the convention limits it only to prostitution. We recommend the title should be changed to "Convention on preventing and combating trafficking in women and children". So that is covers other forms of exploitation of the trafficked women and children.

* The contradictions regarding the scope of the convention should be removed for ensuring greater clarity in implementation of the convention. For example, while the title is limiting the scope to Prostitution Article III Number 1 makes any form of trafficking and offense to be dealt with as a crime. Similarly, the article VII dealing with extraditions or prosecution is contradictory and self-defeating and needs to be amended.

* The definitions in Article I should be brought in line with the UN Protocol.

* The right of privacy and self-determination for the victims of trafficking should be incorporated in the convention.

To ensure the effective implementation of the convention we urge you to:

1. Formulate well defined national policies and legislation in line with South Asia guidelines developed in consultation with each other under the auspices of SAARC and boarder legislative policies including criminalisations of all actors involved in the process of trafficking.

2. The legislation, policies and procedures must clearly outline the recipient country's accountability, mutual legal assistance, extradition, rehabilitation and repatriation of the victims, responsibilities for action and allocation of funds, regular review and monitoring of the progress nationally and regionally.

3. Clearly assign responsibility of implementation and follow-up of the convention nationally to a ministry at the national level and co-ordinate regionally.

4. Allocate adequate funds available for the implementation of the convention.

5. Ensure that people holding public offices if involved directly or indirectly in trafficking are awarded severe punishment in comparison with the others involved in such a heinous crime.

6. Ensure that the Regional Task Force to be established to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of the convention includes in addition to the officials of the relevant ministries of the member states, representatives of civil society working on the issue.

7. Evolve a mechanism for monitoring the flow of people's movement in the region without restricting the freedom of movement of the average citizen.

8. Ensure that vulnerable populations of women and children are made aware of the issues of trafficking and are imparted with 'life skills' to enable them to make appropriate decisions and negotiations in difficult circumstances by demystifying the issue through media to all stake holders, including local authorities and government.

9. Finally and most importantly SAARC should evolve mechanisms for establishing a regional court on the lines of International Criminal Court to prosecute cases of trafficking in women and children.

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