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Commonwealth Human Rights
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e-Newsletter has been produced for Commonwealth National Human Rights
Institutions (NHRIs) by the British Council, as part of the British
Council's project to support networking and sharing between such NHRIs.
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1.
Forthcoming Events |
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| FORTHCOMING EVENTS | ||||||||||||
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| AWARDS | ||
| Inspector
General of Police from Tamil Nadu, India receives British award Tamil Nadu Inspector General of Police for Vigilance and Anti-Corruption K Radhakrishnan was presented the prestigious Britain's 'Queen's award for innovation in police training and development 2004'. He received this award for the second time in succession. The IPS officer was the only non-British police officer from the 54 Commonwealth Countries to receive the award, which carries an amount of 15,000 Pound Sterling (about Rs 12 Lakh). It is given once in two years to police personnel working in Britain and Commonwealth countries based on proposals on improving police-community relations. This year's topic was 'how the community can be engaged more effectively in police training to improve performance'. |
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| Call
for nominations for the 2005 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
(MEA) The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) is the main award of the non-governmental human rights movement. The MEA calls for nominations for its 2005 Award. The award aims to encourage individuals and organisations, in particular those who are working in conditions hostile to fundamental human rights and who are in need of protection. Nominations for next year's award should reach the Martin Ennals Foundation (MEF) by 1 October 2004. Anybody can nominate any individual or organisation by filling out the appropriate form. |
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| REPORTS | |
| Africa | |
| Gender
and the information revolution in Africa Information is universally acknowledged to be a lynchpin of sustainable and equitable development. In Africa, however, access to information is limited, and especially so for rural women. The new information and communication technologies (ICTs), centred mostly on the Internet, provide potential to redress this imbalance. The essays in this book published by International Development Research Centre (IDRC) examine the current and potential impact of the ICT explosion in Africa. They focus specifically on gender issues and analyse the extent to which women's needs and preferences are being served. The authors underscore the need for information to be made directly relevant to the needs of rural women, whether in the areas of agriculture, health, micro-enterprise, or education. They argue that it is not enough for women simply to be passive participants in the development of ICTs in Africa. Women must also be decision-makers and actors in the process of using the new ICTs to accelerate African economic, social, and political development. |
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Commonwealth
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| Integrated
Approaches to Eliminating Gender-based Violence: New gender mainstreaming
series on development issues by Commonwealth Secretariat This manual promotes an integrated approach to combat gender-based violence with governments, non-governmental organisations, private sector and international organisations working together. It addresses the problems inherent in the current strategies, especially lack of collaboration between the different agencies and individuals working in the area of gender-based violence. Promoting an Integrated Approach to Combat Gender Based Violence encourages development and implementation of comprehensive and coherent policies, programmes and national plans of action on gender-based violence. It provides easy-to-read instructional material and case studies for training managers, middle-level professionals, development workers and extension agents. A do-it-yourself manual, the book is based on the Commonwealth Secretariat model framework for an integrated approach to combat violence against women. It draws on the strengths of the Gender Management System,. promotes an integrated approach to combat GBV, draws on experiences from workshops and consultations facilitated by the Commonwealth Secretariat in Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, is a flexible tool that can be adapted to suit national and local situations. |
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| International | |
| Right
to education: Annual Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur, Katarina
Tomaševski This is the sixth and the last annual report of the UN's Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education. When her mandate was established in 1998, its key purposes were enhancing the visibility of the right to education and eliminating obstacles and difficulties in its realisation. This has proved to be an impossible task because obstacles and difficulties in the carrying out of her mandate have considerably increased each year. Her formal complaint against the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on 15 October 2003, not yet resolved, dealt with her efforts to enhance the visibility of the right to education. Her recommendation to the Commission is, therefore, not to renew the mandate on the right to education. The Special Rapporteur has prioritised the Commission's concern about financial obstacles in the realisation of the right to education throughout her work. She has repeatedly brought to the Commission's attention the dual legal status of education, as entitlement and traded service. She has recently carried out a global review of the charging of school fees in primary education around the world to find out that not even primary education is free in 91 countries. This report includes a tabulated overview of her findings and further information will be provided during the Commission's sixtieth session. |
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| Helping
the world Communicate: World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),
Geneva 2003 to Tunis 2005 A commemorative book on the Geneva Phase of WSIS has been published by International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The 152-page book includes statements from the opening session of the Summit as well as the WSIS documents - the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action - which were endorsed by 175 countries, along with a message from UN Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan and a foreword by ITU Secretary-General Mr. Yoshio Utsumi. A concise background of the WSIS process and an impressionistic picture gallery capture the atmosphere of the Summit and its preparatory process. |
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| UNESCO’s
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Action Directory Launched UNESCO’s WSIS Action Directory, an online platform providing access to information on UNESCO’s contribution to the implementation of the Plan of Action adopted by the World Summit on the Information Society in December 2003 has now been launched. UNESCO’s activities that operationalise the Organisation's concept of “Knowledge Societies” can be accessed by the categories of the WSIS Action Plan, UNESCO four principles for Knowledge Societies, regions and countries, types of actions, and by UNESCO’s main fields of competence. For each activity, detailed information on its links to the WSIS Action Plan, its type, geographical location as well as a contact information and a URL for further reading are available. The Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action adopted at the closing of the Summit expresses an international consensus on the values which should underpin the building of inclusive and pluralist societies in which all can benefit from the potential of ICTs. |
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| ILO
releases 93 country survey on labour migration The International Labour Office (ILO) has published a comprehensive new survey on labour migration that provides, for the first time, detailed information on migration laws, policies and practices in 93 countries. Information from the new compendium, entitled "ILO Migration Survey 2003: Country summaries" will be an important reference for the general discussion on migration being held during the 92nd International Labour Conference with a view to developing a new programme of action on global migration. The International Labour Migration Survey contains information collected as of April 2004 and is the latest information on trends in migration and conditions of migrant workers, the state of law and practice, impact of migration, and the experience with structures and policies for regulating migration and employment of migrant workers. All the 93 responses collected by the ILO are summarised in the survey, published both as a book and in a CD electronic version, in a way that allows access to data and information for each of the countries. |
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| Asylum
levels and trends in industrialised countries: First Quarter 2004 The number of asylum-seekers reaching the world’s developed countries fell again in the first three months of this year, continuing a downward trend documented over the past few years, according to new figures released by the United Nations refugee agency. In the 29 industrialised countries covered by this report, 92,700 asylum applications were submitted during the first quarter of 2004, 16 per cent fewer than during the fourth quarter of 2003, when 110,600 claims were lodged. The level of new asylum claims during the first quarter of 2004 was the lowest since, at least, the first quarter of 2001. Compared to the third quarter of 2001, when more than 160,000 persons sought asylum, the number of asylum-seekers has dropped by over 40 per cent. |
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| Media,
Violence and Terrorism - A UNESCO Publication UNESCO has published a report on Media, Violence and Terrorism, designed to contribute to on-going discussions and reflections on global security and human rights and to reveal how fundamental liberties such as freedom of expression and press freedom have been affected by terrorism. The publication contains edited texts of papers and case studies presented at a Conference on “Terrorism and Media”, organised in Manila in May 2002 at the occasion of the celebration of World Press Freedom Day as well as regional reports on status of research studies dealing with media, violence and terrorism. |
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| World
Day Against Child Labour: New ILO report highlights plight of children
in domestic labour Around 10 million children world-wide are currently working as domestic servants in private homes, subjected to abuse, health risks and violence, says a new report released on by the International Labour Organisation. The report "Helping Hands or Shackled Lives? Understanding child domestic labour and responses to it" documents the exploitation of these children - some as young as 10 - for the first time on a global level. Prepared by the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), the report examines in detail the plight of children working in sometimes hazardous forms of domestic labour, and was issued on the eve of the third World Day Against Child Labour. Children in domestic labour are usually "invisible" in their communities, toiling for long hours with little or no pay, frequently abused, and regularly deprived of the chance to play or go to school. |
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| World
Refugee Survey 2004 On May 24, the U.S. Committee for Refugees published the World Refugee Survey 2004. The authoritative report reviews refugee conditions and government policies affecting refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced person in 145 countries world-wide. It includes 15 pages of comprehensive, reliable, and widely-cited statistics. The 2004 Survey focuses on the theme of refugee warehousing: of the nearly 12 million refugees in the world, well over 7 million have been confined to camps or segregated settlements or otherwise deprived of basic Refugee Convention rights in situations lasting ten years or more! The Survey launches the U.S. Committee for Refugees' campaign to end this practice and to uphold the rights of refugees. |
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| Kenya | |
| Human
Rights Education In Kenyan Schools: A Human Rights Resource Book for
Teachers This Book for teachers has been designed for practising teachers by the Kenya Human Rights Commission. It has been written in close reference to the objectives and content of Human Rights Education in the Revised School Curriculum of 2003. The book provides a wide scope of information about human rights for each topic in the school curriculum. It also offers additional relevant information to what is covered in the pupil’s books and the syllabus. It is envisaged that this will broaden the teacher’s scope of knowledge about human rights. |
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| Manufacture
of Poverty: a book by the Kenya Human Rights Commission In its advocacy for worker’s rights, the Kenya Human Rights Commission’s research into Women Working in Precarious Conditions in Export Processing Zones confirms the negative effects the conduct and actions of these key non-state actors have on human rights. Hence, justifying the need for monitoring by civil society in this new world order, where private corporations exercise inordinate influence over local laws and policies. With the decline in state authority, focus must therefore be turned to those sectors that have filled the void. The conduct and actions of these non-state actors have a direct impact on human rights ranging from violations of workers’ rights to environmental degradation. |
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| United Kingdom | |
| White
Paper on the New Commission for Equality and Human Rights, UK On 12 May 2004 the UK Government published a White Paper, “Fairness for All :A New Commission for Equality and Human Rights”. The Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) will be responsible for challenging discrimination across society and, for the first time, will promote human rights. It will also take responsibility for new laws outlawing workplace discrimination on religion or belief, sexual orientation and age. The white paper sets out in detail the proposed vision, functions, powers and structures for the new CEHR. It outlines the work the new body will be expected to carry out to support key stakeholders and how its work will be implemented. The publication of this document marks the beginning of a new consultation period in the equality institutions review which is due to end on 6 August 2004. |
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| World
Value Survey The Home Office in the UK commissioned a large survey of 10,000 respondents on citizenship, which had many questions on rights and responsibilities. It is called the '2001 Home Office Citizenship Survey: People, Families, and Communities' (Home Office Research Study 270), and it can be ordered through the website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/. The World Values Surveys regularly have questions about human rights, but tend to be of a very general nature. |
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| Three
out of four applications for asylum made by people from countries in
conflict, says new report released to mark Refugee Week 2004 Fleeing the Fighting: How conflict drives the search for asylum, is a report by Amnesty International released on 14 June 2004 to mark the start of Refugee Week (14-20 June). It reveals how conflict causes people to flee their homes, friends and family to seek sanctuary in other countries, including the UK. The report also reveals the impact these conflicts have on asylum claims to the UK. According to available Home Office statistics, up to three-quarters (around 74%) of asylum applications are made by people from countries where conflicts are occurring, as defined by the International Institute of Strategic Studies. Conflict is just one of the global causes of forced migration and displacement, and many people around the world still face persecution in countries that are not at war, such as Zimbabwe, where human rights abuses are well documented. People also flee conflict countries for other human rights reasons. |
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| NEWS STORIES | |
| ASYLUM | |
| UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan, in world refugee day message, notes key
role of asylum For millions of refugees and displaced people around the world, “home” is a place they have fled from in fear for their lives, in a desperate attempt to find safety. Home is also a place many despair of ever seeing again, as they struggle to cope with the shattering enormity of losing family, friends, possessions and everything familiar to them. Amid the flight from conflict and persecution, in the tent cities of refugee camps, and during the wait in unbearable uncertainty to see what the future will hold, it is a refugee’s most cherished dream to return home and live in dignity and security. That is why this year’s World Refugee Day is dedicated to the theme, “A Place to Call Home”. Over the past five decades, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has helped more than 50 million people uprooted by the turmoil of conflict to find a home and start their lives anew. |
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| Courts
to take account of human rights violations in asylum-seekers country
of origin, UK In an historic judgement the House of Lords (The House of Lords is part of the United Kingdom Parliament and the highest court in the UK) has ruled that a court must take into account potential violations of human rights in the country of origin of an asylum seeker, when taking a decision on the right to stay. "The Lords' ruling recognises that, in immigration cases, there is more to human rights than just the right not to be tortured. Somebody facing removal to a country where they would face arbitrary detention without trial for many years will now be able to seek the protection of the UK courts." |
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| CHILD RIGHTS | |
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rights radio in West Africa I am a child but I have my rights too!" is a radio programme produced by children and aired across West Africa. Broadcast since 1998, the show informs parents, children, and authorities about their roles and responsibilities to respect children's rights. The project, championed by Plan, an independent organisation dedicated to working with and for children, is aimed at promoting children's rights through the airwaves. The radio campaign project is broadcast in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Togo, Mali, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, and Benin. Up to 10 radio stations in each country (including public, private, rural and community radio stations) air the programme, adapting the programme to that particular country's culture. 30 stories promote the right to go to school, to have access to water that is suitable for drinking, to grow up healthy, and to be protected against exploitation. |
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| CUSTODIAL JUSTICE | |
| Indian
prisons - rhetoric and reality According to the Prison Statistics Report 2000, India has about 248,115 prisoners in total to the available capacity of 211,720; Uttar Pradesh topping it with 49,885 inmates. Prisons in India are still governed by the century old Prisons Act 1894 and the Prisoners Act 1900. The application of a century old law in the changed socio-political scenario is absolutely bizarre, and is out of tune with the entirely transformed picture of human society. During the past some decades several organisations, intellectuals and committees set up for jail reforms have expressed their views on the importance of reviewing the Act which is a century old. |
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| Detention
Centre visits will not end abuse in Malaysia On May 29, the Malaysian government opened the Kamunting Detention Centre to a tour by journalists, the first such visit since the long-term detention facility opened in 1973 as the main incarceration centre for Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees. According to media reports, detainees spoke about abuses they had endured after their arrest. The government also announced that the Malaysian National Human Rights Commission, Suhakam, would conduct an investigation into allegations of abuses at short-term detention centres, called Police Remand Centres, where detainees are initially held for several weeks before being sent on to Kamunting. |
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| HEALTH | |
| AIDS
and Girls' Education This fact sheet by UNAIDS explores the relationship between the education of girls and HIV/AIDS. It argues that education is one of the key defences against the spread of HIV and the impact of AIDS. It also states that while ensuring girls are in school is important to reducing overall vulnerability, it is insufficient without specific measures to provide information, skills and links with school- community services. |
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| A
rights-based approach to reproductive health This article, published by Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), highlights the need for reproductive health programmes to collaborate with experts in the fields of ethics, law and human rights in order to address the multiple factors that affect women's and men's reproductive health. Key benefits of an integrated rights based approach are identified. These include the provision of an ethical framework for public health practitioners; the positive influence of international treaties, which put pressure on governments to provide adequate health services; and identification of health issues such as maternal mortality as human rights or social justice concerns, which raises their profile and level of urgency for policy makers. The article also includes guidance on implementing a rights based approach, drawing on the principles of human rights to guide policy, programme design and service delivery, including clients' access to information, quality of care, and the relationship between clients and providers. It also highlights the advocacy role of health providers, and the capacity of human rights education to empower community members to realise their own reproductive rights. The article concludes by calling for renewed efforts to honour the rights based agendas of the Cairo and Beijing conferences on reproductive health. |
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| NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS | |
| Iranian
Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi says human rights essential for Millennium
goals Iranian lawyer, human rights activist and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, underscored the importance of human rights, including women's rights, to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in a speech at the United Nations in New York City. Ms. Ebadi pointed to vast disparities between rich and poor countries documented in the UNDP Human Development Report 2003: people in Japan live 81 years on average, but only 35 years in Sierra Leone; 82 per cent of Ugandans survive on less than a dollar a day, while no one in the Scandinavian countries lives in such poverty; and 154 of every 1,000 Angolan children do not survive infancy, while in North America and Europe between one and 10 children die so young. She proposed that the Millennium goals "be amended to include the promotion of humans rights," since only through human rights can democracy be realised and development achieved. |
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| New
Human Rights Educational Project The Department of International Law and Human Rights of the University for Peace, with the support of the Government of the Netherlands, has been working since October 2003 on an innovative human rights project, the Human Rights Educational Project (HREP). The aim of the project is to develop and disseminate educational materials related to human rights in response to the needs of individuals and organisations, particularly in developing countries, to obtain convenient access to up-to-date human rights instruments and academic materials. The Human Rights Reference Handbook provides a general overview of human rights; human rights annotated case-law and materials which compare cases from the three regional human rights systems and the United Nations Human Rights Committee; a compilation of human rights instruments that includes international human rights treaties and other documents; and a CD-ROM that contains materials that supplement the books. |
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| Commonwealth
now responsible for democratic progress While Pakistan’s re-entry to the Commonwealth comes as no surprise to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the premises applied in this case are a matter of concern. The basis that brought Pakistan on the path to democracy is one that brings the Commonwealth’s credibility into question within the country. The decision indicates that the Commonwealth lacks information about the current state of fundamental freedoms in the country, and has chosen to disregard the positions adopted by bar associations, opposition political parties, rights groups and other civilians about the state of democratic rights. HRCP also notes that the Commonwealth decision to re-induct Pakistan, with the proviso that the state of democratic development in the country will continue to be monitored, places the onus for the protection of basic rights of citizens by national rulers on the organisation. It is hoped that the commonwealth will take on this difficult task with full commitment and responsibility. (HRCP is an independent, voluntary, non-political, non-profit making, non-governmental organisation, registered under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860), with its Secretariat office in Lahore). |
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| Update
on the 12th Workshop on Regional Co-operation for the Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights in the Asian-Pacific Region The United Nations organised this workshop in Doha, Qatar from the 2 to 4 March 2004. The purpose of this meeting was to assist in the development of regional or sub-regional inter-governmental arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights. In particular the workshop reviewed the progress achieved under the agreed UN framework of four "pillars" to support the development of regional arrangements - namely (i) national human rights plans of action (ii) human rights education (iii) national human rights institutions and (iv) the realisation of the right to development and economic, social and cultural rights. It was clear that the growth of national human rights institutions and, in particular, the work of the Asia Pacific Forum, was the most significant development under the UN framework. |
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| Challenges
to human security in the new South Africa The 1996 South African Constitution clearly defined a progressive concept of national security, stating its aim to 'reflect the resolve of South Africans, as individuals and as a nation, to live as equals, to live in peace and harmony, to be free from fear and want and to seek a better life.' The Constitution expressed a vision of a primarily human-centered security, 'protecting vital freedoms' and 'protecting people from critical and pervasive threats and situations'. |
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| Canadian
Human Rights Commission moves to improve dispute resolution The Canadian Human Rights Commission has taken steps to significantly improve the resolution of human rights disputes. The Commission has listened to all of its stakeholders, including employers, unions, service providers and advocacy groups, who told that steps had to be taken to ensure an effective and timely process to protect, enforce and promote human rights and equality. "The Commission is expanding alternative dispute resolution (ADR) so that cases will be settled as fairly, respectfully, quickly and efficiently as possible," said Chief Commissioner Mary Gusella. "ADR enhances human dignity. Often, it can help restore relationships and promote healing in the workplace." ADR is a non-adversarial way of resolving disputes that is being increasingly used in the public and private sectors, and the most common form of it is mediation. The Commission launched a pilot mediation program in 1999. In 2002, parties agreed to mediation in 42 per cent of the cases and 64 per cent of those settled successfully. The settlements came within three or four months-significantly less time than it takes to conduct an investigation. The Commission offers ADR at all stages of the complaint process. This will allow parties to explore win-win options consistent with the public interest. |
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| RIGHTS OF THE DISABLED | |
| Update
on the third session of United Nations Ad Hoc Committee: Proposed Convention
on Disability and Human Rights At its second session, 16-25 June 2003, the Ad Hoc Committee decided to establish a Working Group with the aim of preparing and presenting a draft text of a convention on Disability, which would be the basis for negotiation by Member States. The Working Group met in New York from 5 to 16 January 2004. In its Resolution 58/246, the General Assembly decided that the Working Group would present its draft text to the Ad Hoc Committee at its third session from 24 May to 4 June 2004, and that the Ad Hoc Committee would start its negotiation on a draft convention during that session. At its third session, the Ad Hoc Committee decided to forward to its fourth session for its consideration a compilation of proposed revisions and amendments made by the members of the Ad Hoc Committee to the draft text presented by the Working Group as a basis for negotiations by Member States and Observers in the Ad Hoc Committee of the draft Convention. |
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| Human
Rights Commission welcomes improved health care access for Deaf Australians
The Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has welcomed the Federal Government’s Budget announcement to fund improved access to interpreting services for Deaf people in medical consultations. A commitment of $18.4 million over four years was announced in last night’s Budget to establish a central unit to book and pay for accredited Auslan interpreters. Deaf people, doctors and health professionals who require Auslan interpreters for specified private medical or health consultations will be able to contact the central unit. Human Rights Commissioner and Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner Dr Sev Ozdowski congratulated the Minister for Family and Community Services, Senator Patterson and her Department for responding to concerns the disability community has been raising for some time over lack of adequate access to interpreting services for Deaf people. |
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| RIGHT TO EDUCATION | |
| Closing
gender gaps in education: lessons from good practice Progress towards the development target of achieving gender parity in education by 2015 may be inconsistent, but there are noteworthy successes. What do they teach us about addressing child labour and exploring interaction between early education and women’s empowerment? A chapter in UNESCO’s 2003 Education for All Global Monitoring Report synthesises a wide range of international experience. Highlighting the policy changes that have been important in pioneering states, where rapid progress towards Education for All (EFA) has been made, it focuses on women as active agents of transformation of education systems that discriminate against gender. |
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| Far
from the front line: how likely is universal primary completion by 2015? The second Millennium Development Goal (MDG) calls on the international community to ensure that by 2015 all boys and girls will be able to complete primary school. A book from the World Bank assesses the likelihood of achieving universal primary school completion (UPSC) - the most important of the Education for All (EFA) goals - by 2015. The book presents a wealth of statistics on educational indicators lays out the policy reforms and incremental domestic and international financing required to achieve UPSC. Much remains to be done. During the 1990s the average rate of UPSC in the developing world only rose from 72 to 77%, far short of the progress required to ensure UPSC by 2015. The global average masks major regional differences. In sub-Saharan Africa barely half of all school-age children are reported to complete primary school. The Middle East and North Africa showed a disturbing pattern of stagnation over the 1990s. |
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| Are
global goals getting girls into school? At Jomtien in 1990, and at Dakar a decade later, educationalists resolved to attack gender inequality in education. Are we on track to achieve the Dakar Forum's pledge to ensure all girls have access to and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality by 2015? Are obstacles to the participation of women and girls in education falling fast enough? A report from UNESCO, part of the agency’s commitment to the UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), reviews and analyses progress made in girls’ education, and gender parity in basic education, since Jomtien. Global trends are set out, together with country statistical profiles for 52 developing nations singled out by UNGEI because of their critical situation in terms of overall enrolment in primary education and/or gender gaps. |
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| Alarming
situation of education in Pakistan Official statistics released by the Federal Education Ministry of Pakistan give a desperate picture of education for all, especially for girls. The overall literacy rate is 46 per cent, while only 26 per cent of girls are literate. Independent sources and educational experts, however, are sceptical. They place the overall literacy rate at 26 per cent and the rate for girls and women at 12 per cent, contending that the higher figures include people who can handle little more than a signature. There are 163,000 primary schools in Pakistan, of which merely 40,000 cater to girls. Of these, 15,000 are in Punjab Province, 13,000 in Sind, 8,000 in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and 4,000 in Baluchistan. Similarly, out of a total 14,000 lower secondary schools and 10,000 higher secondary schools, 5,000 and 3,000 respectively are for girls, in the same decreasing proportions as above in the four provinces. |
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| TRAFFICKING | |
| Human
trafficking: USA puts India on watch list India was among the seven Asian nations put by the USA on its “watch list” of countries involved in human trafficking. Besides India, other Asian countries in the “Tier 2” of the Watch List for 2003 by the US State Department are Japan, Laos, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Nations deemed to be complying with the USA and international efforts to fight human trafficking are placed under “Tier 1” while those making “significant efforts” are placed under “Tier 2”. Bangladesh is the only South Asian country to be put in “Tier 3” in the Department’s “Trafficking in Persons” report. See Tier Placements: 2004 |
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