SAARC urged to help fight trafficking

Thursday, July 06,2006: KATHMANDU: Women's rights activists from around South Asia on Wednesday asked SAARC Secretariat based here to develop standards for communication, monitoring and evaluation of programs on combating trafficking in order to avoid duplication and facilitate coordinated efforts.

"Too many resources are wasted in duplication of work, lack of designated priorities and poor coordination," Tulsa Lata Amatya, president of Community Action Center - Nepal (CAC), said, speaking at the regional consultation on "Effective implementation of the SAARC convention
on trafficking" organized by CAC.

Representatives from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Nepal said that SAARC Secretariat should widen the SAARC convention to transcend beyond prostitution to include many types of exploitation, including forced and indentured labor.

Ishrat Samin from Bangladesh, Dr. Rinchen Chopel from Bhutan, Ranjana Kumari from India, Khalida Salimi from Pakistan and Dr. Selvy Thiruchandran from Sri Lanka, representing civil society of their respective countries said that there should be a separate department of the government in each SAARC member country to work on trafficking in persons as one of the emerging critical areas.

They said SAARC rapporteuring is needed to send quarterly progress report in connection with the SAARC convention on trafficking, to the member countries.

Speaking at the program, Chandni Joshi regional program director of UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) said that there would soon be country-specific database in South Asia on violence against women, women's health and feminization of poverty.
Source: southasianmedia.net