Editorial
Diverse culture, ethnicity, language and economy of South Asian countries amidst the suffering of enormous poverty, corruption, social insecurity, rigid hierarchical social structures, exclusionary governance practices and widening disparity among its people have given shape to various forms of democracies.
Recent elections held in Bhutan, Pakistan, Maldives and Nepal, despite of variation in nature of electoral process adopted and resutls achieved, signal a move towards strengthening democratization of politcs in South Asia. It is coming out of clutches of militarized government, authoritarian system and monarchihcal practices. However, the region continues to be torn by conflict and remains vulnerable to military interventions in politics, corruption in government, and terrorism being in pracice. Security still remains a prominent issue in most countries in the region; preventing mobility of people restircted and mistrusting pople in the name of religion, castes and nation states.
General Election to its National Assembly was hailed as a triumph of democracy after eight years of military rule in Pakistan. But the series of continuous blasts in different part of the countries in recent days has raised the question of security. Bangladesh is proceeding towards the final phase of parliamentary elections, which is taking place on December 29, 2008. Widespread violence led to the cancellation of January's general election and the imposition of a state of emergency. The recent brutal attack in Mumbai is one of the worst incidents that challenge the smooth functioning of democracy by taking so many innocent lives. We thus need to identify sustainable solutions with concrete strategies to address the issues and incidents of this nature and collectively raise voices against the violence.
South Asia stands out for its dynamic women leaders who have reached highest political heights in a region where women are one of the most under-represented groups in politics. However, marginalization of women in governance is a common problem faced by all South Asian countries. But the degree of marginalization is more severe in some countries than in others. It is not just politics where women's participation is lacking but lacking is visible in the overall process of development and governance.
A variety of factors have been identified for the marginalization of women in politics. Exclusionary policies and practices prevail within masculine political systems obstructing women from entering politics. Absence of positive discriminatory actions such as reservation and quota, the capacity development of women politicians and the prevalence of violence against women in politics (VAWIP) have hindered the active participation of women in decision making process in countries of South Asia.
To address the issues of VAWIP, it is essential to challenge and change the existing social traditions, norms and attitude towards women's participation and status in society, sensitize the entire family members, community and society to eliminate such disparity, and build pressure on states to implement a gender-friendly code of ethics. Violence against women in politics has to be redefined in the context of the region and policies need to be reformulated. National legal provisions and mechanisms must be amended to reflect their commitment to address gender-based violence. Since most of the international instruments do not have explicit provisions to create a gender sensitive, safe and secure space for women to participate actively in politics, it is imperative that the new instruments be formulated at the international level or existing international instruments be harmonized and adapted at the national level.
As an attempt towards building a policy influencing process for the incorporation of VAWIP agendas in the gender sensitive international instruments and mechanisms, SAP International conducted a Second South Asian Regional Conference on VAWIP in Kathmandu from 16-18 November, 2008. Announcing the Kathmandu declarations, the participants of the conference demanded to reclaim the peace and liberty of the people of South Asia wherein women play a central role. The declaration of this conference urged the Governments of South Asia to adopt existing international instruments like CEDAW, UNSCR 1325 and CPRW in national laws and policies, rather than just be signatories to them.
As a process, the people of South Asia should come together to address these common challenges through widespread sharing of ideas and experiences and by forging solidarity across the borders.
