"People's Summit" held annually since 2000 paralle to the South Asian Associatio for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit aims to promote people to people dialogues,
exchanges and linkages in South Asia to address regional issues. This joint civil society initiative provides a platform to act on a "peoples agenda" and helps civil society to engage with national governments and regional institutions. The participation of Afghanisthan in the 6th People'summit was welcomed in which more than 200 people from 8 countries participated.

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This representative assembly of civil society organizations and network of South Asian countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) condemns the unwarranted postponement the SAARC heads of state Summit and calls for its immediate convening to discuss the current social, political and economic issues.

The People’s assembly has been deeply devastated and grieved by the Tsunami disaster and offers its heartfelt sympathies to the survivors and expresses concern over the neglect of states in providing relevant information to citizens and for failing to forewarn the people. We also express anger and shock over the mishandling of the post-disaster situation, failure in creating systems to reach the victims and the delivery of relief and assistance in rehabilitation. We recognize that the problems of disaster in our era are magnified by the failure of policy and poor governance. We appreciate the unprecedented generosity and benevolence of the people of the world and call for an effective mechanism to coordinate the relief efforts. We endorse the priorities and commitments made in the World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) framework of action. We urge an effective South Asian system with a sound organizational structure to share expertise, knowledge and hydro-meteorological information.

This assembly views with concern the recent developments in Nepal and the suspension of fundamental rights and civil liberties is unacceptable. It calls for the restoration of basic human rights and democracy in Nepal forthwith. The states must not be allowed to suspend fundamental rights and civil liberties under any pretext. Rights to information and communication as fundamental rights of respective citizens must be ensured.

The People’s Summit expresses concern over the rapidly growing militarization of the states in the name of national interest and security. Such policies are detrimental to peace and democracy in the region and give rise to extremism, intolerance, confrontation and conflict. It therefore demands an end to recent arms deals and the immediate reduction in military expenditures.
We urge immediate negotiations without pre-conditions among SAARC states on existing and potential conflict-generating issues such as territorial disputes, shared water resources, and hydrocarbons resources. The Assembly demands the suspension of all mega hydroelectric projects that adversely affect the lives and livelihoods of millions and call for the development of a mutually agreed code of conduct for projects that negatively impact neighboring countries.

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Declaration of 4th South Asian People’s Summit
2-4 January 2004, Islamabad

This representative assembly of civil society organizations and networks of South Asian countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) reiterates the pledge to promote people’s struggle for a peaceful, democratic and prosperous South Asia; and commits itself to actively oppose all actions and policies of state and non-state actors that increase poverty, militarization, intolerance, extremism, patriarchy and exploitation.

Realizing that regional cooperation is the most important prerequisite for the progress of the people of South Asia – especially in the face of increasing globalization and imposition of destructive policies of the World Bank, the IMF and WTO – this assembly welcomes the convening of the XII SAARC Summit, and the opening up of communication and travel links between India and Pakistan, thereby facilitating travel between all SAARC countries.

This assembly welcomes agreement on SAFTA and believe that its implementation will lead to enhanced interaction and cooperation that will benefit the peoples of the entire region. It is imperative that the member states should ensure free mobility and guaranteed basic labour rights to all workers in the region. It is also essential that citizens’ freedom of movement within the region be ensured to enable them to benefit from the fruits of free trade. A civilized and liberal visa regime be established in all the SAARC countries.

Although the governments in the region have taken some positive steps with regard to granting visas to visitors from other countries, this assembly calls upon these governments to allow all citizens of SAARC countries visas at the port of entry, as is currently practiced by Sri Lanka and Nepal.

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The joint declaration of the Summit
Kathmandu, 2003

This representative assembly of civil society organizations and networks of South Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) reiterates the pledge to promote people’s struggle for a peaceful, democratic and prosperous South Asia; and commits to actively oppose all actions and policies of state and non-state actors that promote militarization, jingoism, extremism and exploitation.

Realizing that regional cooperation is the most important prerequisite for the progress of the people of South Asia – especially in the face of increasing globalization and imposition of destructive policies of the World Bank, IMF and WTO – this assembly deplores the postponement of the XII SAARC Summit and calls for its immediate convening.

This assembly also condemns the recent denial of visas to peace and human rights activists by the governments of India and Pakistan, and terms these actions as detrimental to efforts for promoting peace and regional cooperation. It demands that the visa regimes should be eased and the states of India and Pakistan immediately should stop harassing, humiliating and victimizing visitors.

This assembly further calls upon these governments to allow all citizens of SAARC countries visas at the port of entry, as is done by Sri Lanka and Nepal. It demands that all communication and travel links among South Asian countries, especially between India and Pakistan, should be immediately restored.

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Statement on Trafficking in Women and Children

We, the representatives of civil society networks and organizations from five South Asia Countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, would like to recognize and welcome the signing of the SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution (hereby Convention). In doing so, you have shown your commitment to jointly combat a grave problem faced by the region directly and by addressing the root causes including poverty, unemployment and social exclusion.

We would also like to congratulate you for clearly outlining the measures to prevent and interdict trafficking in women and children; and the care, treatment, rehabilitation and repatriation of the victims. However, we would like to draw your attention to the following in the Convention and urge you to make the following amendments to further clarify its scope and mandate:

The title of the Convention limits it only to prostitution. We recommend that the title should be changed to Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children, so that it also covers other forms of exploitation of the trafficked women and children. The contradictions regarding the scope of the Convention should be removed to ensure greater clarity in its implementation.

For the full declaration please download the PDF attachment.