Introduction
The constitutions of nearly all the countries of South Asia recognize the multiethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual character of the region and provide safeguards that protect the rights of minorities. However, these constitutional guarantees and other internationally-codified obligations to protect the rights of minorities often remain unfulfilled due to a number of factors, including the lack of political will regarding effective implementation of constitutional protections, legal and constitutional amendments adopted for political expediency, the suspension of fundamental rights during periods of emergency, and the rise of religious fundamentalism.
The lack of respect for minority rights often fuels tensions and sows the seeds of violent conflict that in several cases have seriously eroded democratic systems or prevented the consolidation of constitutional democratic government. Prominent examples include the civil war in Sri Lanka, the expulsion of over 100,000 ethnic Nepalis from Bhutan, violent sectarian conflict in Pakistan, attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, and Hindu-Muslim violence in India. In light of these conflicts and others based on social, cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistic differences throughout South Asia, there is an urgent need to address minority rights issues and work toward the protection of human rights for all.
Although numerous national and international level mechanisms designed to address human rights violations and to protect the rights of minorities exist, they are often poorly understood and beyond the reach of minority communities throughout the region. Moreover, governments and the dominant or majority groups in the various countries often do not see the protection of minority rights as a fundamental issue in the consolidation of liberal democratic government.
Civil society organizations in South Asia have taken a leading role in assisting minorities to gain access to the judiciary, national human rights institutions and even the United Nations. However, NGO efforts to defend minorities have been hampered by a lack of specialized knowledge of the legal instruments and mechanisms available and by the failure of governments, political parties and other actors to recognize the centrality of minority rights issues to larger political issues.
BACKGROUND
The constitutions of nearly all the countries of South Asia recognize the multiethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual character of the region and provide safeguards that protect the rights of minorities. However, these constitutional guarantees and other internationally-codified obligations to protect the rights of minorities often remain unfulfilled due to a number of factors, including the lack of political will regarding effective implementation of constitutional protections, legal and constitutional amendments adopted for political expediency, the suspension of fundamental rights during periods of emergency, and the rise of religious fundamentalism.
The lack of respect for minority rights often fuels tensions and sows the seeds of violent conflict that in several cases have seriously eroded democratic systems or prevented the consolidation of constitutional democratic government. Prominent examples include the civil war in Sri Lanka, the expulsion of over 100,000 ethnic Nepalis from Bhutan, violent sectarian conflict in Pakistan, attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, and Hindu-Muslim violence in India. In light of these conflicts and others based on social, cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistic differences throughout South Asia, there is an urgent need to address minority rights issues and work toward the protection of human rights for all.
Although numerous national and international level mechanisms designed to address human rights violations and to protect the rights of minorities exist, they are often poorly understood and beyond the reach of minority communities throughout the region. Moreover, governments and the dominant or majority groups in the various countries often do not see the protection of minority rights as a fundamental issue in the consolidation of liberal democratic government.
Civil society organizations in South Asia have taken a leading role in assisting minorities to gain access to the judiciary, national human rights institutions and even the United Nations. However, NGO efforts to defend minorities have been hampered by a lack of specialized knowledge of the legal instruments and mechanisms available and by the failure of governments, political parties and other actors to recognize the centrality of minority rights issues to larger political issues.
II. PROJECT OBJECTIVES
- To research and document the situation of minorities in South Asia; and
- To consolidate national and regional networks aimed at promoting and protecting minority rights.
The International Centre for Ethnic Studies will use Endowment support for the first year of a three-year project to promote respect for minority and groups rights in South Asia. This project will build upon an earlier two-year project partially funded by the Endowment. During a workshop in October 2003 organized by ICES and the Canadian Human Rights Foundation (CHRF), participants identified five cross-cutting themes—access to justice and equality before the law; discrimination and exclusion; access to natural resources; promotion and protection of cultural diversity, and autonomy and self-determination of individuals and groups within society—that will provide a framework for this new initiative. The project will have five components: an annual review of minority rights, research on conflict situations, advisory services, national and regional dialogues on the promotion and protection of minority rights, and the production of a draft charter on minority and group rights in South Asia.
Annual review of minorities: Building upon the work of a previous NED-funded project on minority rights in South Asia, ICES and its Bangladesh partner, the Centre for Alternatives, will prepare an annual review of the situation of minorities in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The review will include an analysis of recent events and developments effecting minorities, the status of minority rights protection as measured against international human rights standards, and recommendations and suggestions to improve the respect of minority rights in each country. The report will be published in English as well as six South Asian languages. ICES and the Centre for Alternatives will publish and disseminate 7,000 copies (1,000 copies per language) of the review. The annual review will be published in the first quarter of year and will be distributed to governments, policymakers, minority-rights activists, academics, and nongovernmental organizations in South Asia.
Research on conflict situations: ICES, in partnership with the Dhaka-based Centre for Alternatives, will commission ten researchers from the region to analyze the issues regarding the promotion and protection of minorities and propose recommendations to address these issues. The research will seek to identify situations where violent conflict is likely and which will require the attention of national authorities and the international community. The researchers will pay particular attention to the challenges faced by women from minority communities as well as smaller minority groups that have received less attention in the past. The research results will be widely disseminated to project partners and key actors in South Asia. ICES will also integrate the results of the research into advocacy toolkits for minority rights activists and into a database of minority rights issues.
Advisory Services Directory: ICES will update its Advisory Services Directory, which includes information and contact details of resource persons and institutions in the region working on the issues of minority rights, a bibliography of minority rights publications, a listing of relevant national and international instruments, and information about the media and other possible channels of dissemination. By consolidating all of this information in one directory, ICES will provide minority leaders and activists in the region with a user-friendly guide to key individuals, institutions and mechanisms in the region that deal with minority rights issues. ICES will update the Directory on an annual basis and will publish 700 copies in English and 500 copies in each of four regional languages. The updated Advisory Services Directory will also be made available electronically.
National and regional dialogues on the promotion and protection of minority rights: ICES, in partnership with the Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group (MCRG), will bring together representatives of governments, civil society, academics and activists to discuss minority rights issues. ICES and MCRG will organize one national-level dialogue in each of the five project countries, and four regional-level dialogues, two the first year of the project and one annually thereafter. Each session will bring together approximately 20 participants representing diverse backgrounds. The primary aim of the dialogue will be to devise strategies for improved promotion and protection of minority rights in South Asia. The national and regional dialogue will enhance consensus-building among the various stakeholders in South Asia regarding minority rights, and act as an informal network that will seek to contribute to a culture of human rights in the region.
Draft Charter on Minority and Group Rights in South Asia: ICES will organize in-country consultations in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in order to prepare a “Draft Charter on Minority and Group Rights in South Asia.” The Charter will be based upon the Statement of Principles on Minority and Group Rights in South Asia, a document drafted by ICES with input from a large number of human rights experts from the region in a previous workshop. The major aim of the Charter will be to address minority issues across countries in South Asia, to enhance regional responses to some of the current weaknesses in constitutional and legislative protections, and to promote minority and group rights. More specifically, the Charter will serve as a reference tool for governments, human rights institutions and advocates, and policy makers to help draft national legislation, promote legislative reform, and influence policies and programs to ensure respect for minority and group rights. An additional goal of the Charter process is to enhance national and regional networks.
Using other sources of funds, ICES will implement the following activities as part of its three-year project.
Training of trainers program on advocacy: ICES will organize a series of train the trainer workshops with a view to strengthening the capacity of civil society organisations to advocate for minority rights. ICES will hold one training workshop per year, on a regional basis, bringing together approximately 30 representatives of civil society organisations working on minority rights issues at the national level and have a demonstrated commitment to organise training initiatives in their respective countries as a follow-up to each workshop.
Fact-finding missions: ICES and its partners will sponsor fact-finding missions in each of the five countries of the region in order to gather information on the five themes of the project.
Capacity-building support to local and national organisations: ICES will make small grants to local and national organisations working to promote and protect the rights of minorities. These mini-grants will complement and build upon the grants which had been provided under a previous project, and will thereby contribute to the sustainability of minority rights activities in the region.
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