Building a solid mechanism for protection
“Towards Protection for All” are the words that started it all. The Regional Initiative for South Asia Human Rights Mechanism, in collaboration with Bytes for All, kicked off the Forum Asia in Lahore on June 9, 2014. Their main focus was simple: to address the different problems faced in trying to assure human rights for all, and to outline the many avenues that can prove to be promising in the future.
Consisting of Afghanistan, Bhutan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives, the region is home to an assorted set of people. From vibrant cultures to religions that take all kinds of shapes and forms, to languages that help forge and cement these identities even further — to say that it is a mixed plate would be an understatement. Despite the fact that this area has been extremely dynamic and diverse, its people have ironically always failed to accept their differences and live together with peace and harmony. It’s dire time that steps be taken to address some of the more crucial problems because this area is also home to a quarter of the world’s population. Marginalised groups, including women, children, and religious and sexual minorities are constantly under threat and have trouble getting by.
The role played by SAARC
The Forum Asia conference highlighted the origins and involvement of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in the region. SAARC has functioned under the guidelines provided by the Non-Aligned Movement and the Charter of the United Nations since 1985. In terms of human rights it has tried to play a role in helping tackle prostitution, augmenting child welfare, promoting democratic systems, and combating issues related to drugs, food security, health issues, etc.
Despite the fact that this area has been extremely dynamic and diverse, its people have ironically always failed to accept their differences and live together with peace and harmony. It’s dire time that steps be taken to address some of the more crucial problems because this area is also home to a quarter of the world’s population.
In particular the SAARC Social Charter reinforced that there’s a great need for the different countries to band together and promote freedom and fundamental human rights. South Asia is currently losing to Europe, Americas, South East Asia and even Africa and Arab states when it comes to the protection and promotion of human rights. To put this into perspective: the situation in South Asia is worse than Arab States, this should be taken into context with the fact that only recently Saudi Arabia declared freethinkers terrorists through legislation.
It’s high time that the region developed a proper policy to deal with the gap in terms of human rights. There needs to be a coherent mechanism put into place that ensures that human rights are guaranteed for all irrespective of their cast, creed, religion, language, etc. All biases and prejudices need to be tackled in a systematic manner so that they are significantly reduced and curbed at some point. Not only will this lead to greater peace and stability in the region but it will also result in great social and economic benefits in the long run as well.
The main problem
Under the Regional Initiative for South Asia Human Rights Mechanism, a forum has been developed for sub-regional cooperation and consultations. The first session took place during 2010 and it was soon followed by another one in the subsequent year. The forum puts together minds from the civil society that are focused on trying to figure out what leads to the disparity of respect and dignity in these societies along with possible measures that can be taken to bring the same societies out of their detrimental condition.
Human rights advocates are routinely persecuted and routinely perish. Within Pakistan we’ve seen countless people fall victim to the tyranny and suppression of those that cannot understand or tolerate a more liberal point of view, one which supports human rights for all. Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti are the obvious names that come to mind because of their stance against the blasphemy law, and it is the same law that resulted in the death of Rashid Rehman simply because he chose to defend someone accused of the crime.
It was research undertaken by the Regional Initiative that helped outline the commonalities in between these different nations. Not only do several of the countries involved suffer from severe paranoia and distrust in terms of their neighbours and other South Asian members, there’s also a huge problem of communities within the nations not getting along at all. The common identities and challenges were outlined by Afrasiab Khattak who focused on peace, security, democratic development and governance. This was followed by I A Rahman, General Secretary of HRCP, who talked about human rights in South Asian states. And the final piece of the puzzle was added by Professor Rashool Bakhsh Raees when he elaborated on the SAARC initiative and the potential for building peace and strengthening democracy. Through their presentations the common string amongst these countries ties them together through terrorism, illiteracy, poverty, inequality, unemployment, extremism, marginalisation of minorities, violence against women, misogyny and homophobia.
The workshop also introduced regional mechanisms and the regional initiative on a South Asian mechanism for human rights. Following which Dr Mizanur Rahman, Chairperson National Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh, spoke about the linkages between national and regional protection systems. His analysis looked into common grounds which could prove to be useful. This was followed by Khawar Mumtaz, Chairperson National Commission on the Status of Women, Pakistan, and his demonstration on how a national protection system for women should pan out, along with the kind of expectations we should hold from a regional human rights mechanism for it to be successful. Muhammad Tehseen offered a different take by allowing the audience to get a better idea of a human rights defender’s perspective.
Human rights advocates are routinely persecuted and routinely perish. Within Pakistan we’ve seen countless people fall victim to the tyranny and suppression of those that cannot understand or tolerate a more liberal point of view, one which supports human rights for all. Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti are the obvious names that come to mind because of their stance against the blasphemy law, and it is the same law that resulted in the death of Rashid Rehman simply because he chose to defend someone accused of the crime.
South Asia is additionally plagued with trans-border human rights violations. In the context of India and Pakistan this has led to many fisherman losing their lives or simply ending up in the other country’s jail with no recourse or resource to help them. While India is fast on the track to development, it’s progress is resulting in massive chaos when it comes to climate change for all the nations involved, including Pakistan that only ranks at the 135th spot.
Be it their problems or their progress, these countries are, simply put, tied together for better or for worse. What this basically means is that working together is the only way out for them when it comes to the problems they’re facing in terms of their environment, economics and their societies. The UN can only do so much because of the proximity problems it faces in terms of not just distance but also context. Given all these problems it’s the need of the hour to develop a system under which these countries can come together.
The link is clear
The event further outlined the role of international human rights systems in promoting human rights and democracy as presented by Dr Ali Qizlibash which was followed by Gayatri Khandhadai’s presentation on which regional mechanisms are currently working, and how different models can lead to long term benefits.
Be it their problems or their progress, these countries are, simply put, tied together for better or for worse. What this basically means is that working together is the only way out for them when it comes to the problems they’re facing in terms of their environment, economics and their societies. The UN can only do so much because of the proximity problems it faces in terms of not just distance but also context. Given all these problems it’s the need of the hour to develop a system under which these countries can come together.
Domestic institutions cannot deal with the problems that have such a multifaceted air to them. And international institutions cannot sweep in and save the day simply by making a declaration that no one wants to adhere to (case in point: Kashmir resolution which is yet to be conducted). When the problems are this intertwined, the solutions will also have to follow the same route. Regional mechanisms will prove to be the main ingredient in ensuring that this doesn’t turn into a half-baked situation.