THE MEMBER STATES OF THE
SOUTH ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION (SAARC),
PARTIES TO THE PRESENT CONVENTION
NOTING that a quarter of
the world's children live in South Asia and many of them
require assistance and protection to secure and fully enjoy
their rights, and to develop to their full potential and
lead a responsible life in family and society;
BEARING IN MIND that parents
or legal guardians, as the case may be, have the primary
responsibility for the upbringing and development of the
child;
RECOGNIZING, therefore, that
the family, as the fundamental unit of society and also
as the ideal nurturing environment for the growth and well-being
of children, should be afforded the necessary protection
and assistance so that it can fully assume and fulfill responsibility
for its children and community;
RECALLING the common proclamation
of their nations in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance;
REAFFIRMING their adherence
to the Declaration of the World Summit for Children and
their commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child;
RECOGNIZING the efforts of
SAARC towards building a regional consensus on priorities,
strategies and approaches to meet the changing needs of
children, as embodied in Rawalpindi Resolution on Children
of South Asia 1996, and noting the significant progress
already made by the Member States in the field of child
survival and welfare;
TAKING INTO ACCOUNT, the
declaration of the years 2001-2010 as the "SAARC Decade
of the Rights of the Child";
BEARING IN MIND that the
development of the full potential of the South Asian child
is a critical concomitant to the region's collective march
towards solidarity, justice, peace and human progress;
ACKNOWLEDGING that regional
solidarity and cooperation through sharing of experience,
expertise, information and resources are eminently useful
in galvanizing the efforts of the South Asian nations to
fulfill and protect the rights of children;
REALIZING further that, together,
the Member States of SAARC can move towards a comprehensive
South Asian vision for the well-being of their children;
HEREBY AGREE as follows:
PART I - DEFINITIONS, PURPOSE
AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES
ARTICLE I. DEFINITIONS
For the purposes of this
Convention;
'Rights of the Child' shall
mean the rights of children embodied in the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child.
'Child' shall mean a national
of any Member State of the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC), below the age of eighteen years unless,
under the national law, majority is attained earlier.
ARTICLE II. PURPOSES AND
OBJECTIVES
The purposes and objectives
of the present Convention shall be to:
1. Unite the States Parties
in their determination of redeeming the promises made by
them to the South Asian Child at the World Summit for Children
and at various other national and international conferences
and successive SAARC Summits;
2. Work together with commitment
and diligence, to facilitate and help in the development
and protection of the full potential of the South Asian
child, with understanding of the rights, duties and responsibilities
as well as that of others;
3. Set up appropriate regional
arrangements to assist the Member States in facilitating,
fulfilling and protecting the rights of the Child, taking
into account the changing needs of the child.
ARTICLE III. GUIDING PRINCIPLES
For the establishment of
regional arrangements, States Parties shall be guided by
the following principles:
1. States Parties to this
Convention shall consider survival, protection, development
and participatory rights of the child as a vital pre-requisite
for:
a) Accelerating the process
of their peoples' realization of human rights and fundamental
freedoms, and
b) Achieving economic and
social development in South Asia.
2. States Parties shall
reaffirm the right of the child to enjoy all rights and
freedoms guaranteed by the national laws and regionally
and internationally binding instruments.
3. States Parties consider
the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as a comprehensive
international instrument concerning the rights and well
being of the child and shall, therefore, reiterate their
commitment to implement it.
4. States Parties shall
uphold 'the best interests of the child' as a principle
of paramount importance and shall adhere to the said principle
in all actions concerning children.
5. States Parties, while
recognising that the primary responsibility of looking after
the well-being of the child rests with the parents and family,
shall uphold the principle that the State has the right
and authority to ensure the protection of the best interests
of the child.
6. States Parties shall
consider this Convention as a guiding force for all national
laws and bilateral or multilateral agreements that are entered
into in the field of child welfare.
7. States Parties shall
always consider gender justice and equality as key aspirations
for children, the realization of which, collectively by
the governments, would enhance the progress of South Asia.
PART II - REGIONAL PRIORITIES
AND ARRANGEMENTS
ARTICLE IV. REGIONAL PRIORITIES
1. Without prejudice to
the indivisibility of the rights enshrined in the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child and other international and national
instruments and law, States Parties shall place special
emphasis on the important areas for child development and
well being as regional priorities that can benefit immensely
from bilateral and regional cooperation.
2. Recognising basic services
such as education, health care, with special attention to
the prevention of diseases and malnutrition, as the cornerstone
of child survival and development, States Parties shall
pursue a policy of development and a National Programme
of Action that facilitate the development of the child.
The policy shall focus on accelerating the progressive universalization
of the child's access to the basic services and conditions.
3. States Parties shall ensure
that appropriate legal and administrative mechanisms and
social safety nets and defenses are always in place to:
a) Ensure that their national
laws protect the child from any form of discrimination,
abuse, neglect, exploitation, torture or degrading treatment,
trafficking and violence.
b) Discourage entry of children
into hazardous and harmful labour and ensure implementation
of the Ninth SAARC Summit decision to eliminate the evil
of child labour from the SAARC region. In doing so, States
Parties shall adopt a multi-pronged strategy including the
provision of opportunities at the primary level and supportive
social safety nets for families that tend to provide child
labourers.
c) Administer juvenile justice
in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child's
sense of dignity and worth, and with the primary objective
of promoting the child's reintegration in the family and
society. In doing so, States Parties shall provide special
care and treatment to children in a country other than the
country of domicile and expectant women and mothers who
are detained along with infants or very young children,
and shall promote, to the best possible extent, alternative
measures to institutional correction, keeping in mind the
best interest of the child.
d) States Parties shall make
civil registration of births, marriages and deaths, in an
official registry, compulsory in order to facilitate the
effective enforcement of national laws, including the minimum
age for employment and marriage.
4.. Recognising the evolving
capacities of the child, States Parties shall encourage
and support administrative and judicial institutions to
arrange for suitable mechanisms at appropriate levels and
in accordance with local customs and traditions, to provide
opportunities and access for the child to:
a) Seek and receive information.
b) Express views, directly
or through a representative, and receive due weight and
consideration for them, in accordance with age and maturity,
in all matters affecting them.
c) Participate fully and
without hindrance or discrimination in the school, family
and community life.
5. States Parties shall
encourage the mass media to disseminate information and
material of social and cultural benefit to the child. They
shall also endeavour to give wide publicity to the Convention
as well as other regional and international instruments
having a bearing on the child.
ARTICLE V. REGIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
To ensure consistent focus
on and pursuance of the regional priorities delineated above,
States Parties shall promote solidarity, co-operation and
collective action between and among SAARC Member States
in the arena of child rights and development. States Parties
view such cooperation as mutually reinforcing and capable
of enhancing the quality and impact of their national efforts
to create the enabling conditions and environment for full
realization of child rights and attainment of the highest
possible standard of child well being. In pursuance hereof,
States Parties shall:
a) provide opportunities
for appropriate bilateral and multilateral sharing of information,
experience and expertise.
b) facilitate human resource
development through planned annual schedule of SAARC Advanced
Training Programmes on Child Rights and Development.
c) make special arrangements
for speedy completion and disposal, on priority basis, of
any judicial or administrative inquiry or proceeding involving
a child who is a national of another SAARC Member State,
and for the transfer of children who are nationals of SAARC
countries, accused of infringing the penal code, back to
their country of legal residence for trial and treatment,
provided that the alleged offence has not imperiled the
national security of the country where it has been allegedly
committed.
d) strengthen the relevant
SAARC Bodies dealing with issues of child welfare to formulate
and implement regional strategies and measures for prevention
of inter-country abuse and exploitation of the child, including
the trafficking of children for sexual, economic and other
purposes.
e) set up a South Asian
nutrition initiative aimed at enhancing knowledge and promoting
greater awareness, practice and attainment of higher levels
of nutrition, particularly for children and women, through
mass education, adequate training and ensuring food security
and equitable distribution of food at the family level.
PART III - RELATIONSHIPS
AND COOPERATION
ARTICLE VI. BILATERAL AND
MULTILATERAL COOPERATION
States Parties shall encourage
and support bilateral and multilateral agreements and cooperation
that would have positive impact on regional and national
efforts in facilitating, fulfilling and protecting the rights
and well being of the child.
ARTICLE VII. RELATIONS WITH
NATIONAL LAW AND INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
1. The States Parties to
the Convention shall adopt, in accordance with their respective
Constitutions, the legislative and other measures necessary
to ensure the implementation of the Convention.
2. Nothing in this Convention
shall affect any provisions which are more conducive to
the realization of the rights of the South Asian child and
which may be contained in national laws or international
agreements that are in force.
ARTICLE VIII. RELATIONS
WITH NON-GOVERNMENTAL BODIES
State Parties, while implementing
the provisions of the Convention, may encourage and support
the participation of non-Governmental bodies including community-based
organisations.
ARTICLE IX. COOPERATION
WITH UN AGENCIES AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES
Recognising their nature
and scope, States Parties may encourage cooperation with
UN and other international agencies.
ARTICLE X. POLITICAL COMMITMENT
States Parties shall provide
the necessary political support to ensure that appropriate
measures are taken, to help fulfill the provisions of this
Convention. The measures, inter-alia, could include legislative
reform and promulgation of appropriate new policies and
legislation, trained manpower, adequately equipped institutions
and adequate allocation of human and financial resources.
PART IV
ARTICLE XI. SIGNATURE AND
RATIFICATION
The Convention shall be
open for signature by the Member States of SAARC at the
Eleventh SAARC Summit in Kathmandu, and thereafter, at the
SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu. It shall be subject to ratification.
The Instruments of Ratification shall be deposited with
the SAARC Secretary General.
ARTICLE XII. ENTRY INTO
FORCE
The Convention shall enter
into force on the fifteenth day following the date of deposit
of the Seventh Instrument of Ratification with the Secretary
General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC).
ARTICLE XIII. DEPOSITORY
The Secretary General shall
be the Depository of this Convention and shall notify the
Member States of signatures to this Convention and all deposits
of instruments of ratification. The Secretary General shall
transmit certified copies of such instruments to each Member
State. The Secretary General shall also inform Member States
of the date on which this Convention will have entered into
force in accordance with Article XII.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned,
being duly authorize thereto by their respective Governments,
have signed this Convention.
DONE at Kathmandu on this
Fifth Day of January Two Thousand and Two, in nine originals,
in the English Language, all texts being equally authentic.
M. MORSHED KHAN JIGMI Y.
THINLEY
Minister for Foreign Affairs Minister of Foreign Affairs
People's Republic of Bangladesh Kingdom of Bhutan
JASWANT SINGH FATHULLA JAMEEL
Minister of External Affairs Minister of Foreign Affairs
Republic of India Republic of Maldives
RAM SHARAN MAHAT ABDUL SATTAR
Minister of Finance and Leader Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the Delegation of Nepal Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Kingdom of Nepal
TYRONNE FERNANDO
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
