Report
of the Meeting of the National Platforms’ Coalition of South Asia at the South
Asian Peoples’ Assembly, 18th to 20th July 2008,
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Representatives of the South Asian National Platforms of the NPCOA met together in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on the occasion of the 8th South Asian Peoples’ Assembly, which was held from the 18th to 21st July 2008, prior to the 15th SAARC Summit that is to be held on August 2nd and 3rd. The South Asian People's Assembly began with a call for making the regional bloc a real “people's union” to promote closer trade and socio-economic integration among the people of the region. It also laid stress on more democratisation of civil societies in the region, given the situation in many countries of the region.
About 500 representatives of various NGOs took part in the three-day event which had a number of workshops and seminars on issues like food security, democracy and governance, nation state and its challenges, climate change and ecological justice, WTO and South Asia and conflict management. The event was organised by the Secretariat that was constituted for the South Asian People's Assembly (SAPA). Representatives from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal participated in the event.
The South Asian National Platforms were also able to conduct informal discussions between themselves. Some representatives attended workshops on Aid Effectiveness that were organised outside of the People’s Summit. Consequently other members were unable to attend the same. While no decisions were arrived at during the informal discussions, there were clear issues on which there was agreement, such as the need to strengthen communications between the Members and to update each other on their work and issues of priority. The website www.ngo-asia.org would help to provide continuous updates on the Paris Conference and most importantly, updates on information about the work of various platforms and the issue-and thematic discussions that can emerge from them to develop awareness and to foster a common understanding among them.
The Indian, Nepalese and Maldivian
platforms in the NPCOA organized a workshop on “Climate Justice in South
Asia” and were the co-sponsors of another workshop on “Food Sovereignty,
Agrarian Crisis and Pro-People Alternatives”. The Nepalese national platform
was also active in co-sponsoring a workshop on “Conflicts, Right to Protection
and Transitional Justice”.
The highlights of the three-day event included various cultural programmes including a cinema section, a mass rally attended by over 25,000 activists on the last day, and numerous parallel workshops titled “Movements, Resistance, Alternatives” throughout the conference while the main plenary topics were “South Asia Today and the New South Asia We Want” and “Towards a New South Asia”.
The South Asian People's Assembly ended
its three day conference on the 21st July and adopted a declaration
focused to creating a 'People's Union of South Asia' in future. The declaration
also called upon the leaders of the SAARC member states to work towards bringing
closer trade and socio-economic integration of the region to beat back poverty
and achieve higher growth. The Colombo Declaration called upon the people of the
region and its leaderships to take a collective stand against all structures of
oppression, discrimination and violence, be it against the poor and lower castes
or against women, to give them equal access to justice and fair treatment. It
called for strengthening democratic institutions and participatory political
process and demanded a no-war pact and a nuclear free South Asia. It called for
cross border connectivity and visa free South Asia. It has also called for a
common regional food security stance creating seed and food banks, rejecting
high breed crops and to accelerate research in agriculture. It has also stressed
for a common strategy and plan of action towards mitigating global warming and
climate change.