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Draft of SAARC Regional Charter promulgated

by Rashomi Silva

The draft of the SAARC Regional Charter and National Charters formulated by the professional bodies for the uplift of the living conditions of the region was promulgated at the symposium on the SAARC Citizen's Charter held in Colombo recently. The symposium was conducted by the Marga Institute in collaboration within the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies and the Ministry of Policy Development and Implementation.

The decision to formulate a Citizen's Charter was taken at the SAARC summit in 1998, the chairman of the Task Force on the social charter Godfrey Gunatilleke told the media.

"The heads of the states had taken this decision considering the fact that the SAARC region has both the largest number and highest proportion of absolutely poor, undernourished and illiterate people in the world and suffers from the highest rates of child malnutrition and female illiteracy", he said.

The charter therefore was intended to uplift the living and the social standards of the people in the region, and to ensure that the Human Rights are respected throughout the region, professionals gathered at the symposium said.

The Regional Draft has been based on the National Charters formulated by the members of the Task Force on the social charter and in consultation with the civil society groups in each country in the region, the professional observed.

The Heads of the States have agreed to set targets within a broad range to be achieved across the region in the areas of poverty eradication, population stabilisation, the empowerment of women, and a few other basic issues, it was told.

The professional varying from Human Rights to the eradication of poverty and from the protection of children to youth mobilisation were consulted in formulating the charter. The charter had endorsed all the principles, rights and the norms embodied in the International Covenants, Conventions and Declaration on human rights, social and civil rights and the social economic right of the people including the vulnerable groups such as children and women.

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