The Hindu : SAARC nations sign social charter

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 06, 2004

International

International

SAARC nations sign social charter

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Jan. 5. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries have signed a social charter to reaffirm its principal goal of promoting the welfare of people of South Asia in all fields.

The charter aims to improve the quality of life, accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development and to provide all individuals an opportunity to live with dignity and realise their full potential.

The member-countries agreed to establish a people-centred framework for the social development and to build a culture of operation and partnership, and to respond to the immediate needs of those affected by human tragedy.

The provisions of the charter shall complement the national processes of policy-making, their implementation and evaluation, while providing broad parameters and principles for addressing common social issues and developing and implementing result-oriented programmes in specific social areas. Its implementation shall be facilitated by a national coordination committee or any appropriate mechanism as may be decided in each country.

The charter particularly deals with poverty alleviation, health issues, education, human resource development and youth mobilisation, promotion of the status of women, promotion of the rights and well being of the child, population stabilisation and drug de-addiction, rehabilitation and re-integration. The member-states can amend the charter through an agreement between all the parties.

The Pakistan Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, signed the charter on behalf of his country while the Bangladesh Prime Minister, Khaleda Zia, the Bhutanese Prime Minister,

Lyonpo Jigme Yaeser Thinley, the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Maldives President, Maummon Abdul Gayoom, The Nepalese Prime Minister, Surya Bahadur Thapa, and the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, signed on behalf of their countries on Sunday.

The charter urges all the member-states to attach importance to social development and economic growth. It stresses that legislative, executive and administrative frameworks should be provided for the progressive realisation of social and economic goals.

It asks the 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.

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