South Asia Declaration on

Beijing + 20

South Asia Declaration on Beijing+20

The consultation was facilitated by

Women and Media Collective,
Asia Pacific Womens Watch and South Asia Womens Watch

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South Asia Declaration on

Beijing + 20

Adopted at the South Asia Consultation

17 October 2014
Colombo, Sri Lanka

Supported by

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South Asia Declaration on

Beijing + 20

CONTENTS
Title

Page

Preamble

Challenges / Critical Areas of Concern in South Asia

Section I: Women, Climate Change and Environmental Degradation

Section II: Fundamentalisms and Extremism in the Name of Culture and Tradition

Section III: Internationalization of Conflict and the War Industry

Section IV: Conflict, Post Conflict Recovery and Rebuilding

Section V: The Dominant Development Paradigm of Market Driven Economy Women

and Economy

Section VI: Economic Activities, Women and Poverty

Section VII: Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights

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Section VIII: Violence against Women (VAW)

12

Section IX: Changing Demography

13

Section X: Women in Power and Decision making

14

Section XI:
General critical Concerns on Media, the Girl Child, Education, Institutional Mechanisms
for the Advancement of Women, Sustainable Development Goals and Cross-Cutting Issues

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Section XII: General Recommendations

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South Asia Declaration on

Beijing + 20

South Asia Declaration on

Beijing + 20
We, the women participants of the Asia Consultation on Beijing +20, from India, Nepal,
Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, gathered here in the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka from 16-17
October 2014 adopt this South Asia Declaration on the twentieth anniversary of the
historic Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing.

Preamble
Recognizing the significance of the twentieth anniversary of the Fourth United
Nations World Conference on Women 1995 and its outcomes documents, the
Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action;
Reaffirming the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth
World Conference on Women;
Emphasizing that the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action is essential to achieving womens human rights,
substantive equality and the internationally agreed upon development goals;
Recalling the twelve Critical Areas of concern relating to womens human rights,
equality, peace, and development enshrined in the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action adopted during the historic UN Fourth World Conference on
Women held in Beijing, China in 1995;
Welcoming the progress made thus far towards achieving gender equality and the
empowerment of women, acknowledging that challenges and obstacles remain in
the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the
subsequent outcome documents of the special sessions of the General Assembly,
and, in this regard, calling on States to pledge the undertaking of further action to
ensure their full and accelerated implementation;
Recognizing that the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action and the fulfillment of the obligations under the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) are mutually
reinforcing in achieving gender equality, womens human rights and the
empowerment of women;
Taking into account the ratification of and accession to the Convention on
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979 (hereafter referred
to as CEDAW) by all countries of South Asia: Bhutan, 31 August 1981; Sri Lanka, 5
October 1981; Bangladesh, 6 November 1984; Nepal, 22 April 1991; Maldives, 1
July 1993; India, 9 July 1993; Pakistan, 12 March 1996; and Afghanistan, 5 Mar
2003 respectively;

South Asia Declaration on

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Bearing in mind the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1999, ratified by and/or acceded to by
four countries of South Asia: Nepal, 26 May 2000; Bangladesh, 6 September 2000;
Sri Lanka, 15 October 2002; and Maldives, 13 March 2006 respectively;
Recognizing the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women 1979, and its Optional protocol as milestone documents on Womens
human rights and equality and recalling the principle of Womens Rights are
Human Rights incorporated in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
adopted by the UN Second World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna
Austria in 1993, as well as the Cairo Declaration and Plan of Action endorsed by
the World Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo, Egypt in
1994 prior to the Beijing Conference;
Considering that all south Asian Countries have taken a holistic approach to
addressing violence against women and have enacted or adopted appropriate
legislation and or reinforced penal, civil, labour, and administrative sanctions to
address violence against women in line with the Declaration on the Elimination of
Violence against women, CEDAW, and the Beijing Platform for Action;
Recognizing that some of the countries in south Asia have enacted legislative and
affirmative actionmeasures to increase political participation of women ensuring
women's equal access to and full participation in power structures and decisionmaking;
Acknowledging the contribution of the womens movement, feminists, womens
rights networks, and civil society organizations (CSOs) in their continued and
relentless efforts to lobby and advocate for ensuring the full and accelerated
implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action;
Recognizing that all governments in South Asia have shown reasonable
commitment to realizing the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and that some
countries are on their way to achieving some of the targets on Eradicating extreme
poverty and hunger, Achieving universal primary education, Promoting gender
equality and womens empowerment, Reducing child mortality, Improving
maternal health, Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, Ensuring
environmental sustainability, and Developing a global partnership for development
Considering that, since the Fourth World Conference on Women, according to an
analysis of maternal mortality1 per 100,000 live births in south Asian countries,
maternal health and life expectancy have increased, with reductions of maternal
deaths occurring in each country in 2013 as compared with 2005: Afghanistan,
4200 from 8100; Bangladesh, 5200 from 8800; Bhutan, 17 from 35; India, 50,000
from 73,000; Maldives, 2 from 4; Nepal, 1100 from 2200; Pakistan, 7900 from
10,000; and Sri Lanka, 110 from 150

Maternal mortality country profiles, World Health Organization, http://www.who.int/gho/maternal_health/countries/en/

South Asia Declaration on

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Noting that gender parity at the primary level in education in South Asia has
increased since the Fourth World Conference on Women, and taking into account
the gender gap2 still visible in terms of literacy levels of men and women in a
majority of South Asian Countries: Sri Lanka, 93(M)-90(F); Bangladesh, 62(M)-53(F);
India, 75(M)-51(F); Nepal, 75(M)-57(F); Bhutan, 65(M)--39(F); Afghanistan, 43 (M)12 (F) and Pakistan, 69(M)-40(F);
Recognizing that womens leadership in decision- making at the level of parliament
and local government has increased in some of the countries in South Asia with
affirmative measures introduced at least at the local level in India, Bangladesh, and
Pakistan and at the level of the national Parliament in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and
Nepal;
The participants of the South Asian Consultation for the Beijing + 20 review solemnly
proclaim the following South Asia Declaration on the Beijing + 20 and urges that every
effort be made so that it becomes generally known, adopted, and respected by all South
Asian governments, and further requests that it be brought to the attention of the
Governments of the respective countries for its endorsement.

Challenges/Critical Areas of Concern in South Asia

We express our deep disappointment that our governments have failed to address the
major underlying causes of the continued unequal status of women in economic,
political, social, legal, educational, and cultural spheres in our region. The following
critical concerns, challenges, and issues in areas of conflict, poverty, economic rights,
climate change, violence against women, environment degradation, health, and other
general concerns are reiterated and emphasized in the South Asia Declaration in order to
advocate and lobby governments to take specific immediate actions and to implement
recommendations set forth in this declaration. Further, this South Asia Declaration on
Beijing +20 reiterates actions and recommendations made by the 12 Critical Areas of
Concerns of the Beijing Platform for Action.
Therefore, we in the South Asia Declaration on Beijing +20 underline the need to
confront these challenges, concerns, and crises, and to forge a better future for women
and girls and to envision a South Asia that is democratic, just, and peaceful.

Appendix D: Rankings by Indicator, 2013 (contd.), Table D6: Literacy rate, The Global Gender Gap Report 2013

South Asia Declaration on

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Section I
Women, Climate Change and Environmental Degradation
1.

We note with concern the continued degradation of the natural environment due to
depletion of forests and natural resources resulting from development premised on
neoliberal economic policies and lack of eco-friendly development policies.

2.

We are also concerned about the increasing impact of climate change on

sustainable development, food, nutritional security, and livelihoods, particularly for
the poor and marginalized communities including women.

3.

We reiterate the ecological limits to the growth paradigm and recognise the need
to safeguard sustainable development addressing the risks and burdens
disproportionately borne by women and girls.

We call on South Asian governments to urgently:

Secure food sovereignty based on the recognition of smallholder
farmers particularly women, as key economic actors whose right to use and own
land should be protected against land grabbing through legally binding safeguards.
Assure womens land tenure and land use rights.
Protect fully and legally recognize Indigenous peoples territories and require that
all investments guarantee legal safeguards for traditional users of land.
Ratify and effective implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversitys
Nagoya Protocol.
Eliminate subsidies for industrial fishing fleets, promote and respect communitybased governance models of marine protected areas and set targets for the
implementation of the International Guidelines to Secure the Smallscale Sustainable Fishing.
Make explicit reference to Agenda 21 and Rio+20 commitments in all investment
and trade regimes, in line with the precautionary principle and principle of
free, prior informed consent and critical ecosystem protection.Keep ecosystems and
forests out of carbon-markets and other market-mechanisms that triggers
privatization and restrict access to women.

South Asia Declaration on

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Section II
Fundamentalisms and Extremism in the Name of Culture and Tradition
4.

We note that regressive cultural and customary practices have shrunk womens
democratic spaces, making it difficult for them to access and realize their rights.

5.

We also note with concern the rising detrimental influence of a plethora of nonstate actors who are allowed to infringe on the rights of women with impunity and
sometimes with the protection of the state and sometimes without being held
accountable by states.

6.

We also note with concern the rising detrimental influence of a plethora of nonstate actors who are allowed to infringe on the rights of women with impunity and
sometimes with the protection of the state and sometimes without being held
accountable by states.

7.

We observe that the interplay of fundamentalism, extremism and assertion of

identities in South Asia paves the way to increased control of women's clothing,
behavior, family planning, education, and right to bodily integrity and autonomy.

8.

We realize that lack of state accountability for combatting religious

extremism/fundamentalism detrimentally affects the safeguarding of religious
minorities and womens rights.

9.

We are alarmed that the prevalence of religious laws and personal laws extant in
South Asia concerning marriage, divorce, inheritance, and custody of children
discriminate and determine womens rights in the private domain negatively and
prejudicially.

10. We are disappointed that harmful discriminatory practices and culturally specific

violence such as dowry-related violence, widow maltreatment, female infanticide,

forced child marriages, honor killings, female genital mutilations, and acid attacks
still continue in some South Asian Countries due to deep-rooted cultural and social
norms and traditions.

11. Whereas a common understanding of womens universal human rights and

fundamental freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of the
Beijing Platform for Action and Sustainable Development Goals, now being
determined, we urge South Asian governments to:
Ensure womens human rights are not violated in the name of culture, tradition,
or custom
End militarization, increasing fundamentalism and extremism in the South Asia
region

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Section III
Internationalization of Conflict, and the War Industry
12. We are alarmed that globalized militarization coupled with regional and global
vested interest has made South Asia a theatre of play for both inter and intra state
conflicts. We note with further concern that this situation has also contributed to
the rise of resource-based conflicts in the region.
13. Entrenched militarization has fostered suspension of the rule of law, poor
governance, legitimisation of violence and repression, and a continuum of violence
from the State and society to the family within the rise of an all-pervasive culture of
impunity.
14. We are aware that conflict, militarization and indifference to the rule of law have
decreased personal security resulting in increased incidents of rape, sexual abuse,
violence, harassment, torture, arbitrary arrest, and enforced disappearances have
especially impacted on women.
15. We recognize that war and conflicts have resulted in displacement and the
trafficking of women.
16. We have witnessed continued impunity in cases of sexual assault and rape,
particularly by police and military during armed conflict, and in post war and in
custodial situations.

Section IV
Conflict, Post Conflict Recovery and Rebuilding
17. We consider that the comprehensive definition of conflict under CEDAW General
Recommendation 30 is highly relevant to the nature of conflict in South Asia today
18. We understand that application of the above definition and accountability of the
member states in incidents of low intensity conflicts like caste, religious, and ethnic
strife can also be sought. This is especially significant in the countries of South Asia,
where society is deeply stratified and negative socio-economic and political
implications are visible across the spectrum due to unequal access to power and
resources in general.
19. We note with concern the high and increasing levels of defence expenditure in all
the countries of South Asia at the detriment of the more immediate and necessary
social spending resulting in the depletion of social securiry and social sector services
particularly in the areas of education and health care that have an detrimental
impact on women including in the increase of the burden of unpaid care work that
falls disproportionately on women.

South Asia Declaration on

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20. We reaffirm the provisions contained in the SecretaryGenerals Guidance Note on
reparations for conflictrelated sexual violence. We reiterate the right of victims of
conflict-related sexual violence to receive prompt, adequate, effective and
transformative remedies, including a combination of diverse forms of reparations.
21. Whereas the women in South Asia reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human
rights, and urged all South Asian Governments to end militarization and wars and to
save succeeding generations, especially women, from the scourges of conflict and
sexual violence, we determined to lobby South Asian governments to:
Ensure transitional justice processes, including reconciliation, and initiate new
jurisprudence enabling women to report current and past incidences of sexual
violence and rape.
Ensure that Judicial and/or administrative reparations are made available to
victims of conflict-related sexual violence
Make sure that both Individual and collective reparations methods that
complement and reinforce each other are available to victims
Ensure that development cooperation efforts are supported with a view
toward helping States to fulfill their obligations to deliver reparations
Guarantee meaningful participation of and consultation with victims in the
mapping, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of reparations
Include urgent interim reparations to address immediate needs and to prevent
irreparable harm
Adopt procedural rules for proceedings involving sexual violence and award
reparations where appropriate
All the stakeholders should take a solid stand in compliance with international
legal norms and practices in the relief, recovery, reconstruction, reparation,
rehabilitation, reintegration, and reconciliation processes

Section V
The Dominant Development Paradigm of Market Driven Economy
Women and Economy
22. We are concerned that the current model of development shaped by neo-liberal
policies, combined with retrogressive national laws and regulations and the current
state of geopolitics escalates fundamentalisms and patriarchal inequalities that
force women and girls to bear the burden of unsustainable economic growth
23. We are aware that the adoption of the current model of development by all our
governments, including countries such as Nepal transitioning from conflict and Sri
Lanka in the context of post-war recovery, has resulted in large scale economic
displacement and disempowerment of women, disruption of the social fabric,
increased the burden of work, including care work, and of responsibility of women
as sustainers of their families. This has further exacerbated and adversely affected
the nutritional and health status of women.

South Asia Declaration on

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24. South Asia has experienced a concentration of wealth and economic power into
one small segment of the population that deepens poverty and income inequality
among women within the South Asian countries
25. We notice that the budgetary provision for the gender equality agenda is
inadequate in terms of, first, the costs of implementing governments development
programmes, and, second, the need for gender sensitive budgeting to ensure equal
access and funding of public resources and to reduce inequalities in the distribution
and impact of public resources.
26. We are aware of the lack of an integrated policy approach to releasing women from
the traps of interlinked problems of climate change, feminization of agriculture,
feminization of poverty, and womens excessive burdensome work load, particularly
in the area of unpaid care work
27. We have discerned that women work comparatively longer hours than men in
unpaid care work, and that women are discouraged from entering the challenging
job market by lack of gender sensitive working environments, absence of child care,
and insufficient access to transportation and adequate housing facilities.
Make sure that the forces of capitalism are controlled and sustainable
development becomes a touchstone for all policies and programmes.
Make the economic contribution of women more visible in Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) calculation.
Reform national enumeration mechanisms to put value to womens unpaid
work.
Measure and recognize the value of unpaid labor through statistics, census,
and analysis as a criterion for evaluating economic policy.
Ensure equal and equitable access for women to the benefits of development,
emancipatory education, and upgraded health services.

Section VI
Economic Activities, Women, and Poverty
28. We are concerned that lack of ownership of assets such as land, housing,
equipment, and property; lack of access to and control over resources (material,
financial, human, social, political, etc.); lack of social benefits that account for
womens disempowerment such as limited opportunities and discriminatory laws
and practices and other challenges constitute barriers for women in South Asia to
achieving economic rights and escaping from chronic poverty
29. We have perceived that feminization of poverty has increased disproportionately in
South Asia through implementation of macroeconomic policies and withdrawal of
the state from its responsibility in the core social sectors of livelihood, food security,
health, welfare, and well-being.

South Asia Declaration on

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30. Whereas we women from South Asia recognize our inherent dignity and our
inalienable and equal rights to work, to enjoy economic benefits, and to have better
life standards without feminization of poverty, therefore, we are determined to
lobby and influence South Asian governments to:
Start effective poverty alleviation funds/programmes which are poor-friendly
and which support employment generation and human resource development.
Take into consideration that women are central to macro-economic policies
and review, adopt, and maintain macroeconomic policies and development
strategies that address the needs of women in poverty.
Reinforce state responsibilities to invest in social services including childcare,
elder care, and healthcare in order to reduce the burden of care work on
women.
Promote the redistribution and equal sharing of unpaid labor through
government incentives, labor laws, and equality legislation with a view to
challenging the stereotypical notion of men as breadwinners and women as
care-givers.
Conduct awareness raising programmes to harmonize work and family
responsibilities for women and men and to change the social notion of
household work in order to reallocate and redistribute household work
between women and men reasonably.
Provide employment services (if unemployed) for single women parents and
female headed households (FHH) including self-employment opportunities and
access to employment in appropriate working conditions.
Formulate an action plan immediately with areas of interventions showing the
causal effects of climate change, feminization of agriculture, workload,
poverty, and womens marginalization.
Provide agriculture extension training (technical know-how about seed and
crop protection, commercial farming with proper mix of agricultural inputs,
etc.) and marketing skills for women farmers.
Organize wider community awareness program about environmentally friendly
sustainable agriculture at different levels.
Formulate a policy of equal pay for equal work both in agriculture and in nonagriculture sectors
Monitor regularly the extent to which the government and concerned labor
organizations implement the standards on equal pay for equal work
Make sure that equal inheritance rights and gender equality are granted by the
laws of the country and that relevant Constitutional provisions should be
implemented in practice.
Amend, abolish, and review laws and regulations to ensure equality for men
and women in acquisition of government lands and, as sons and daughters, in
inheriting parental property equally
Conduct public awareness program to raise awareness among parents and
other concerned stakeholders of womens rights to property and inheritance
Institutionalize gender audit and gender-responsive budgets (GRB) and take
action for orientation and training on gender auditing and gender responsive

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budgeting in order to create more clarity and common understanding at all
levels.
Develop specific indicators for the effective implementation of gender
responsive budgeting at different sectors.
Formulate viable budgets, programs, and policies to ensure that the post-2015
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would stimulate profound and
transformational change in the structures and systems that govern the lives of
women and men
Ensure gender-equitable sustainable development through the creation of
policy space for equitable development in favor of womens and girls rights
Recognize the contribution of migrant women workers in the national
economy and take actions to create a proper data-base for keeping track of the
number, country of destination, channel of departure, present status, and
remittances sent by them, in order to properly maintain records so that their
contributions to national income will be more visible.
Special attention should be given to making womens international migration
for work more safe and secure.
Ensure food security and national security for all.
Ensure there are appropriate rehabilitation programmes for victims of natural
disasters such as floods, droughts, and landslides and man-made disasters such
as wars and conflicts, especially for women, girls, and vulnerable populations
Integrate gender mainstreaming into all macro and sectoral policies and
operations
Reevaluate micro credit programmes with a view towards ensuring boosts in
rural womens earning potentials and to remove negative impoverishment
effects on them such as multiple burdens of work.

Section VII
Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights
31. We are concerned that harmful practices such as child, early, and forced marriages
often lead to early or unwanted pregnancies, leading to detrimental effects on the
health and development of girl children.
32. We are aware that inadequate access to comprehensive education and sexual and
reproductive health services, including access to safe and legal abortion, make it
difficult to realize sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for all
33. We identify the importance of ensuring full recognition of womens human rights to
control all aspects of their sexuality, free of coercion, discrimination, and violence in
public and private spaces throughout the region.
34. We urge South Asia government to bear in mind the ICPD Programme of Action, the
Beijing Platform for Action, the CEDAW Convention, and the outcome documents of
their national, regional and global review processes as well as the outcomes of the
annual meetings of CPD and CSW; and in this regard, to ensure full access to

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comprehensive and integrated sexual and reproductive health information and
services for all by providing context-specific rights-based continuum of quality care
through the life course; and the protection and personal autonomy for all.
35. We understand that social negligence as well as traditional discriminatory attitudes
towards women prevail in South Asia, which largely discourages womens access to
health care, and, in some cases, if the woman is not independent or educated or
empowered, she becomes dependent upon her husbands or in-laws decisions to
seek health services from service providers even in cases of advanced-stage
pregnancy.
36. We are alarmed that in some South Asian countries, rates of early marriage remain
among the highest in the world; and we are aware that child marriage exposes
young girls to high risk of health complications, poverty, gender-based violence,
illiteracy, contracting STIs including HIV/AIDS and deprivation of life opportunities.
37. We are concerned that there is no recognition of the sexual health needs of single
women (never married, widowed, divorced/separated) in health related policy in
almost all south Asian Countries.
38. Whereas health and quality sexual and reproductive health rights is important to
achieving sustainable development goals and quality life standards, we urge
relevant authorities to:
Ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights for all by providing a contextspecific rights-based Continuum of Quality Care (CQC) throughout the womens
lives, including for menopause and its related issues.
Recognize the health impact of unsafe abortion and ensure safe and legal
abortion services for women and girls, including in cases of congenital
abnormalities and pregnancy due to rape, incest, and sexual violence and
ensure access to quality services for the management of complications arising
from abortion
Provide comprehensive sexuality education for adolescents in the school
setting, using standardized curricula to be made available also to drop-outs.
Eliminate disparities in health services between rich and poor and between
urban and rural areas and reach out to disadvantaged groups such as minority
groups, hill people, tribes, and indigenous communities.
Provide effective family planning education, including information on birth
control, immunization programs, and contraceptive methods, to both men
and women including marginalized groups, rural women, and tribal groups in
South Asian Countries

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Section VIII
Violence against Women (VAW)
39. We stress that violence against women (VAW) is one of the most inexcusable
problems in women's lives in South Asia and it is the most intolerable and emphatic
indicator of the extent of discrimination against women and women's
subordination.
40. We recognize that VAW is an extremely complex phenomenon deeply related to
gender-based power relations, sexuality, self-identity, and discriminatory social
institutions.
41. We are deeply concerned that gender-based violence continues to be endemic and
constitutes an extreme violation of womens and girls human rights in South Asia.
42. We understand that people across the region continue to face exclusion,
imprisonment, torture, discrimination, and violence because of their real or
perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.
43. We continue to notice that law enforcing agencies and public officials deny women
rights through stereotyping of women and systematic exclusion of women
44. We have seen that women face barriers in accessing justice due to the high cost of
prosecution services in the absence of organized legal aid services
45. We urge that governments and relevant UN agencies provide full-scale training and
capacity building on womens human rights to all concerned actors such as the
judiciary, police, prison officials, and others in the law enforcement sector.
46. We urge all South Asian governments to enact laws and policies needed to tackle
sexual harassment in work places, educational institutions, and other public places
47. We urge that violence against women in all its forms and dimensions must be
addressed on an urgent basis.
48. We recognise that violence against females is widespread and increasing in the
private and public sphere in the form of rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence,
incest, assault, obscenity, unwanted advances, perverted acts, forced pornography,
forced prostitution, and media violence and that measures taken to prevent and
redress these abuses remain insufficient in all South Asian countries.
49. Whereas recognizing that violence against women is a phenomenon that transcends
class, creed, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, culture, and economic development; that
it occurs among rich or poor, single or married, and urban or rural populations; and
observing that, although gender based violence is highly prevalent in general, rates
are higher against women and children in particular minority groups, indigenous

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women, refugee women, women migrant women in institutions or detention,
female children, women with disabilities, domestic workers, plantation workers,
elderly women, displaced women, repatriated women, sex workers, women living in
poverty, and women in situations of armed conflict and civil wars:
Ensure that womens daily lives are improved and secured at home, workplace,
public spaces, and society at large
Enact and implement penal legislation to punish perpetrators of violence
against women and stop giving impunity to perpetrators of sexual violence in
conflict situations
Ensure that structural discrimination and caste based violence are not
tolerated
Provide resources through government and UN agencies to civil society
organizations to start innovative and empowering programmes to address
violence against women in the region, such as self-defense training for girls/
women for elimination of VAW, and engage men and boys to address VAW
Start 'Safe city initiative' with women's network from community to national
level in South Asian Countries to make cities, roads and public places are safe
for women

Section IX
Changing demography
50. We are aware that South Asia is now experiencing a phenomenon of aging
populations resulting from lowered mortality and birth rates and increased life
expectancy. This does not guarantee a life of quality for aging women due to
challenges such as poverty, poor living space options, physical, visual and cognitive
disability, and increased GBV against elderly women
51. We are concerned that due to longer life expectancy of women, there is an
increasing feminization of the older population
Ensure income security by breaking ageist barriers to employment, health,
credit, capacity building, and appropriate social securities.
Discourage exploitation and abuse of older women through sound alternative
living spaces and ensure their independence through improved mobility and
transportation.
Start social security schemes for aged, disabled, and neglected widows as well
as for incapacitated and helpless citizens

Section X
Women in Power and Decision-making
52. We recognize male dominance in political parties and gender insensitive and
undemocratic political structures exclude women from equal participation in
political life

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53. We note insufficient representation of women within the diplomatic corps as
ambassadors, high commissioners and UN special representatives, and ministerial
secretaries in South Asian Countries
54. We urge that the low number of women in the public sector and diplomatic
missions should be addressed through the establishment of a quota system for
women as an interim affirmative action.
55. We are aware that other than in a few countries in South Asia, no positive measures
or affirmative actions such as quotas have been established in all South Asian
countries in order to encourage women to participate in political life
56. We are concerned that due to unequal sharing of household work, the burden of
reproductive roles/domestic work involved in basic household maintenance limits
womens capacity to engage in community political roles.
57. We are concerned that high costs of the electoral campaigns and a violent political
culture create a barrier for women who want to contest elections in South Asian
countries
58. We see that the lack of confidence that political parties place in womens ability to
garner votes reduces the number of women getting nominations in elections
59. We recognize that lack of resources and financial support to women candidates are
additional reasons for the low participation of women in politics.
60. We are aware that lack of training and capacity building opportunities for
prospective women candidates create barriers for women in terms of contesting
elections and obtaining nominations.
61. We are aware that there are no proper monitoring bodies, established systems, or
specific targets in South Asia for creating gender balance in public appointments to
governmental and semi-government bodies, committees, public administrative
entities, judicial offices, government ministries, diplomatic missions, and
commissions, as well as in appointments to boards, corporations, and universities.
Expand the democratic spaces for women ensuring womens participation and
decision making at all levels and in all political institutions.
Establish systems and specific targets in South Asia for creating gender balance
in public appointments to governmental and semi-government bodies,
committees, public administrative entities, judicial offices, government
ministries, diplomatic missions, and commissions, as well as in appointments to
boards, corporations, and universities.
Lobby with political parties to nominate women in, or name them to, elections,
elective and non-elective public positions, and political bureaus and change
party constitutions to include gender equality standards.

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Take steps to increase the number of women in leadership positions in
political parties and trade unions
Ensure the regular collection, analysis, and dissemination of quantitative and
qualitative data on women in governance at all levels in various decision-making
positions in the public and private sectors.
Support civil society initiatives to monitor and evaluate progress of women in
decision making positions and within political parties across the region
Lobby for law reforms, wherever no such provisions exist in South Asian
countries, mandating quota systems for women in Parliamentary elections and
in local government bodies.
Conduct gender audits to analyze political party structures and procedures and
suggest recommendations on how to remove all barriers that directly or
indirectly discriminate against the participation of women.
Create a South Asian network aimed at building a critical mass of women
leaders, executives, and managers in strategic decision-making positions and
share their success stories to encourage women in decision-making and to
strengthen solidarity among women.
Establish entrepreneurial, technical, leadership, and on-the-job training, as well
as career planning, tracking, mentoring, and coaching programmes for women
in order to promote women in decision making levels.
Provide leadership and self-esteem training, and conduct public speaking and
political campaigning, in order to assist young women and girls, particularly
prospective female candidates belonging to racial and ethnic minorities, to
encourage them to take up decision-making positions.

Section XI
General critical Concerns on Media, the Girl Child, Education, Institutional
Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women, Sustainable Development
Goals, and Cross-Cutting Issues
62. We are aware that with the advance of technology, there are also negative effects
on privacy and security of people, especially for women. Taking into account that
there are more female victims than males in cybercrimes, we urge all South Asian
countries to formulate preventative penal legislation on crimes related to
information technology aimed at punishing acts of cyber-crime against women and
girls, including digital based sexual harassment, cyber-stalking, cyber pornography,
hacking, publishing of obscene materials, obscene telephone calls, faking names on
social media such as Facebook profiles, harassment and defamation via e-mails,
morphing and email spoofing.
63. We recognize the potential role media plays in undermining negative social norms
which affect womens autonomy and we believe that womens poverty is due, in
part, to the rigid gender role images constantly portrayed by media

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64. We are concerned about the lack of sufficient commitment by governments to
ensuring national security, rule of law, good governance, and justice equally and
about the lack of accountability on the part of state and non-state actors for
ensuring human rights in South Asian countries
65. We have been hampered, due to a dearth of comprehensive gender disaggregated
data throughout the South Asia region. This is essential for effective and gender
sensitive development planning and implementation of sustainable development
goals
66. We are mindful that lack of comprehensive and effective national machineries and
institutional mechanisms to address gender inequalities is a fact contributing to the
slow progress on achieving gender equality in South Asian Countries
67. We recognize that lack of legal and policy changes in recognizing different kinds of
gender identities and sexuality in legal documentations, including those related to
work life, marriage, and inheritance, create barriers for certain segments of the
population in all South countries
68. Whereas in recognizing the importance of addressing cross cutting issues such as
human rights, disability, youth, ageing, and HIV/AIDs, this South Asian Declaration
calls on South Asian governments to implement the following recommendations on
these specific concerns:
Strengthen NGO and civil society collaboration with government to take
forward the Sustainable Development Goals with a focus on gender equality
and the human rights of women
Give special emphasis to changing social attitudes through media and
education, and to the sensitization of media concerning their ethical
responsibilities related to womens empowerment and non-stereotyping
Ensure equal participation and meaningful representation of women in media
and related agencies, and, most importantly, in human resources and decision
making levels.
Guarantee a gender friendly working environment and social security in all
media houses and agencies
Recognize disability and rights of disabled women and a have a policy and
practice in place ensuring them access to jobs and infrastructure
Address issues of disabled women in accessing services and provide gender
sensitive guidelines for infrastructure development and road construction
plans
Recognise new forms of VAW emerging due to the use of social media and new
technologies (such a mobile phones)
Create cyber security cells in police stations in order to address cybercrime
against women and girls and eestablish web-based software Integrated Crime
Data Management Systems in law enforcement agencies.

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Review and strengthen the discourse on sex education for children,
especially to the girl child, and provide sensitization and information to
children, parents, school authorities, and service providers.
Mainstream gender equality throughout the framework of Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).
Prevent early marriages in South Asia by promotion of education for girls,
enforcement of law, and stringent punishment
Take immediate steps to prevent early marriage and early childbearing through
policy change, law implementation, and advocacy in South Asia
Ensure security for girls in public spaces and ensure functional literacy and
follow-up education for school dropouts, particularly for girls
Strengthen the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), to
find durable solutions to conflicts within the region, and enhance SAARC
budgets to support programmes on womens empowerment in the region.
Establish proper monitoring mechanisms in collaboration with civil society to
follow and lobby south Asian governments to implement CEDAW Concluding
Observations ensuring substantive equality.
Abolish any discriminatory provisions in laws relating to women
acquiring/regaining/ maintaining citizenship in all South Asian countries.
Remove legal and policy barriers to the decriminalization of same sex
relationships, and enact comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation that
prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity
(SOGI) in South Asian countries
The two-day Regional Consultation comprised of various civil society organizations
working in the field of womens rights and human rights across South Asia held in
Colombo, Sri Lanka from 16-17, October, 2014 with the objective of reviewing the
achievements and challenges 20 years subsequent to the Beijing World Conference on
Women, along with the realization that there will be a global review of the Beijing
Platform for Action (BPFA) and a global adoption of the post 2015 development
framework in September 2015, resulted in the unanimous promulgation of this South
Asia Declaration which is commensurate with the global slogan Empowering Women,
Empowering Humanity: Picture it!
We, the NGO representatives at the South Asian Consultation for Beijing + 20 held in
Colombo call upon the Heads of the States, Heads of the Governments, the United
Nations system, International Agencies, and all sectors of civil society, including nongovernmental organizations, as well as all people of different genders, castes, class,
creeds, ethnicities, and religions to fully commit themselves and to intensify their
contributions to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
and the outcome of the National Consultations on Beijing + 20.
Through this Declaration, we collectively urge the South Asian governments, UN
Agencies, and other relevant stakeholders to consider sector-specific recommendations
made under each section above and the following general recommendations for future
direction and action:

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Section XII
General Recommendations
Ensure gender equality and empowerment through appropriate constitutional and
legal safeguards, by enacting user friendly and gender sensitive laws, policies, acts,
and administrative procedures in order to minimize the situations of discrimination
faced by women in all spheres;
Ensure meaningful participation and partnership of women in all processes related
to effective remedies and reparation mechanisms in order to create a healing and
conducive environment for sustainable peace and reconciliation; and end the
culture of impunity by effectively implementing the national and international laws
and policies that deal with women, peace, security, and violence against women;
Formally acknowledge the status of armed conflicts wherever applicable and enact
appropriate policies and programmes that take into account the existing challenges
for women and girls;
Apply the scope and definition of conflict offered by CEDAW General
Recommendation 30 for the purpose of the review in Critical Area E (Women and
Armed Conflict).
Ensure and enhance womens direct and meaningful participation in formulating
and implementing laws and policies relating to the minimizing and controlling of
the impacts of armed conflict in the context where women, many of whom are
being uprooted from their place of origin, are being hardest hit by the unpredictable
decrease in agriculture production, rain, and drought, and by unimaginable natural
calamities resulting from climate change.
Enact appropriate preventive and safeguarding legal measures to prevent and
control all forms of violence against women, and adopt legal measures to ensure
dignity, social security, and appropriate livelihood options for the women vulnerable
to human rights violations and ensure effective and full implementation of the
decisions and directive orders of the Supreme Court regarding the status, identity,
and rights of women;
Fulfill the right to effective remedy and reparation to all victims of sexual and
gender- based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, and treat them
with humanity and respect for their dignity and human rights, avoiding further harm
and trauma without discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, ethnicity,
race, age, political affiliation, class, marital status, sexual orientation, religion and
disability, or any other status and taking into account the definitions and guiding
principles set out in the guidance note of the United Nations Secretary General on
reparation;

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Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as
access to ownership and control over natural resources and other forms of
property, financial services, and inheritance;
Recognize women as full rights holders, and integrate a comprehensive strategy
with robust accountability mechanisms for meaningful formulation and
implementation strategy in fulfilling womens economic rights, particularly through
critical assessment of the economic contribution of women in the national economy
by the census exercise;
Ensure effective implementation of the national/ human rights action/ development
plans on the holistic progress of adolescents, which focus on Innovating for Girls
education and other related issues of vital importance;
Formulate viable programs and policies to ensure that the post-2015 Sustainable
Development Goals will stimulate profound and transformational change to the
structures and systems that govern the lives of women and men in order to ensure
gender-equitable sustainable development through the creation of policy space for
equitable development in favor of womens rights;
Make food security a priority by ensuring that women receive adequate, nutritious,
and quality food; seek to create employment opportunity at all levels in order to
save rural and poor women and disadvantaged groups from being trapped by the
vicious cycle of poverty;
Adopt and implement appropriate legal and administrative measures for safe,
regular, and rights-based migration and conclude bilateral and multilateral
contractual labor agreements with the destination countries as per international
standards with effective implementation and monitoring mechanisms in order to
maximize the benefit and minimize the risk and vulnerabilities associated with the
feminization of migration;
Ensure womens full and effective partnership and equal opportunities for
leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and other spheres
of public life;
Take all necessary legislative, administrative, and other measures to prohibit and
eliminate prejudicial treatment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity
at every stage of the administration of justice and ensure that all allegations and
reports of human rights violations based on sexual orientation or gender identity
are promptly and impartially investigated and perpetrators held accountable and
brought to justice;
Finally, incorporate fully the essence and spirit of Twelve Critical Areas of Concern of
the Beijing Platform for Action; and, through affirmative action, amend the existing
laws and policies in compliance with CEDAW and other relevant international
instruments in order to end all forms of discrimination against women in line with
the goals adopted at the Beijing Conference.

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