Kathmandu: A one day seminar on the inclusion of the worker’s rights in the SAARC Social Charter was organized in Kathmandu by Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies in cooperation with FES of Germany last week.
The draft social charter is being prepared at the moment by the Marga Institute of Sri Lanka and it is reported that the worker has not even been mentioned by it, although other social issues have been comprehensively taken up.
To recall, this was the second time the worker’s rights was being discussed in Kathmandu with regard to the South Asian regional organization. The select gathering of about forty people concerned with labor unions, Industrial Relations Forum, regional cooperation, political scientists, economists, government officials, ILO representative and university teachers discussed the plight of the laborers in South Asia in general and Nepal in particular and suggested some ways to minimize the problem in question.
After Ananda Srestha welcomed the participants and presented some highlights of the seminar, Yadav Kant Silwal, the former SAARC secretary general, who also chaired the seminar said that the holding of the meeting was timely. “The Council of Ministers are meeting in August where the Social charter draft is expected to be presented,” he said.
Discussing the preparatory stage of the draft charter, Mr. Silwal said that a clear perception has not yet emerged as to what the charter should contain, although SAARC has taken up many social programs in the past fifteen years. “The perception differs among the different countries. All the countries feel that it needs to be discussed at the macro level. But the problem is that trade unions are heavily politicized. They need to evolve a common platform devoid of politics and color which is dedicated to the worker. That has not yet happened. We need to evolve a culture to make that happen,” he said.
He also pointed out the need to create a power lobby to impress upon the seven governments that there is a real need to include the worker’s rights in the social charter. “Today, the charter has been drafted and although all the social sectors have been included, the worker has been left out,” he said.
After the opening remarks by the NEFAS executive director and the chairman of the session, Dev Raj Dahal made a presentation outlining the state of social commitments of regional organizations throughout the world.
He discussed the labor problems in South Asia and also provided recommendations and the difficulties of implementing those recommendations. The floor discussions began after the presentation. (9See five questions column as well-editor.
At the end of the discussion Dev Raj Dahal replied by saying that he would incorporate the suggestions and take them to the concerned place. He also said that the state remains unbiased between capital and labor. “It should have the capability to mediate between the two and find out an equilibrium,” he said.
After the reply by the author, the chairman of the session, Yadav Kant Silwal made his final remarks: There is no “mandate” even with the Secretary General to include the worker’s rights in the charter. That is why you will not find it in the draft. But it is important that we include them as the discussions have shown. In August, Nepal can propose that the issue be debated at the national level (about the inclusion of the worker’s rights in the charter) in all the capital of South Asia. FES and NEFAS can do more work through regional networking developed from this particular event. Several of us can go to the Prime Minister and ask him to get the August meet to agree on national debates so that all the countries can come out with their own concerns on the labor issue.