SADeW issues declaration on minority rights

DALLAS: South Asia Democracy Watch (SADeW), a nonprofit organization, has issued "Declaration on Minority Rights in South Asia" calling upon the world community to send a strong signal to the region to protect minorities at this historical juncture when minorities are being persecuted at an unprecedented level.

Based on the recommendations of its conference "Human Rights Crisis in South Asia: Marginalization and Violence against Minorities" recently held in Dallas, the declaration proposes profound measures at individual, national, regional and international levels to reform education systems, assist victims of violence, promote interfaith dialogue and train mass media personnel.

The announcement recommends imposing preconditions related to investments and aid to the countries where minorities are becoming target of violence and urges the South Asian diaspora to pressurize governments to protect all minorities back home.

The pronouncement also asks the eight countries in the region to strictly follow the Article 55(c) of the U.N. Charter and Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and fully cooperate with UN bodies in investigating violations of their charters and resolutions for protecting minorities.

Criticizing the South Asian states for not protecting minorities, the organization's President Dr. Qaisar Abbas said "Legal frameworks sometimes provide justifications to persecute minorities and legal systems in the region should be reformed to ensure equality for all citizens." "It's time" he said, "the world community should use its political and monetary strings to end violence against minorities in the region."

The declaration also asks military and government establishments to have a zero-tolerance policy against terrorists and refuse to negotiate from their current state of weakness and disarray. It demands that "Government and security agencies must stop aiding and arming groups which seek to attack targets in other countries. The blowback from this policy is partly responsible for terrorism directed against states, people and in particular religious minorities."

The document also proposes that South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) should create a regional human rights charter and procedures that specifically address the rights of religious, sectarian, cultural and ethnic minorities including women, children, people with disabilities and immigrants to articulate special measures to protect those who are affected by armed conflicts.

Realizing that militancy starts taking roots in children's mind at an early age, the declaration recommends to transform curriculum of religious, public and private schools to remove hatred and prejudice against weaker segments of the society. It also asks religious and political leaders to engage in a meaningful dialog and establish parallel institutions to educate school dropouts who are recruited by religious institutions.

The declaration also appeals universities and media organizations to offer workshops for journalists and media personnel on professionalism and social responsibility and asks NGOs and similar organizations to initiate social awareness campaigns to end discrimination against minorities and the disadvantaged groups.

Prominent scholars and public opinion leaders from South Asia, Canada and United States who participated in the minority conference last January made these recommendations to protect minorities in the region.

The conference presenters included known scholar from Pakistan Pervez Hoodbhoy who was also the keynote speaker, activist from California Krishanti Dharmaraj, legal expert Amjad Mahmood Khan, Islamic scholar Dr. Husnain Walji, journalist from Pakistan Allauddin Khanzada, sociologist Dr. Raghu Singh, interfaith leader Peter Bhatti and director of the SMU Embrey Human Rights Program Dr. Rick Helparin.