What Asia needs in a post-pandemic world is people-centered governance
Writer secretariat 22-09-30 08:39 count 2 Reply 0
The lack of commitment and concerted action from most governments poses detrimental threats to the people and planet caught amid multidimensional crises compounded by COVID-19 in Asia. The UNESCAP SDG Progress Report 2022 indicates that the SDGs will not be achieved in Asia and the Pacific until 2065 given the current pace of progress.
From Japan to Pakistan, the region is among the most complex, home to countless cultural identities, and financial disparities. But the “wave of crisis” is still crushing into the region. The military coup in Myanmar, followed by the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the Sri Lanka acute debt crisis earlier this year, and now the “monster monsoons” in Pakistan are radically altering the social and civic involvement across Asia.
Youth voices at this year’s Global People’s Assembly which takes place in parallel to the UN Global Assembly shared their views on the region. Rahi from Afghanistan talks of a “crisis like no other” with “women erased from the scenario”. Mohamed Nasreen From Sri Lanka criticized current development models saying that the “SDGs remain theoretical without much application”. From Myanmar, May shared multiple examples of police brutality against students and teachers.
Decades of widespread liberalization of domestic markets, deregulation of basic goods and services, and the privatization of social services have turned the region into a ticking economic time bomb, and countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal are the burning examples. Sri Lanka, a middle-income nation by World Bank standards, has descended into a crisis so severe that it is unable to afford to feed its citizens, provide the necessary fuel for production, or maintain its institutions. In a matter of months, a political crisis erupted and culminated in the dramatic resignation of now-former President Rajapaksa Gotabaya. This was followed by a violent state-sponsored crackdown on activists by President Wickremesinghe, the detested successor, and now the world waits in suspense to witness what could be the tipping point of a domino effect of deep-seated crises across the entire region.
In India “the Government’s financial and investigative agencies are being weaponised to harass, intimidate, silence, and criminalise independent critical voices in the country”. Over the years, the Income Tax Department of India has raided multiple locations including NGOs and public policy think-tank as part of a probe investigating alleged contraventions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. But this is not an isolated case; civil society across the region is feeling that the rights to association and to privacy protected under international human rights law are being violated.
Sugat Bhattarai, from the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication, explains how South Asia for instance is the only regional grouping in the world without any inter-governmental body on human rights.
“Anti-terrorism measures still being adopted in some South Asian countries increasing incidents of human rights violation”. A recent Forus report confirms this, showing how civic space is being transformed in the region and beyond, by firstly, the COVID 19 global health pandemic and secondly, the accelerating global process of digitalization, often negatively impacting the rights and freedoms of activists and civil society practitioners and their operating environments.
From India we move to Pakistan, where apart from the immense destruction caused by “human-triggered climate change”, other ingredients are at play; such as the feudal element with suspicions and rumors once again arising, that powerful landowners are using their influence to divert water away from their property and inundate the villages and fields of millions of poor Pakistanis across the waterlogged countryside.
At this year’s Global People’s Assembly, Fridays for Future activist Disha Ravi, shared again the urgency for action: ”the climate crisis is happening now. Millions are displaced and killed, struggling everyday to live with dignity. This shouldn't be the case for anyone”.
The humanitarian crisis across Asia is exacerbated by the international community not committing to reducing CO2 emissions nor forwarding any genuine solution to the climate emergency. Actions to protect and build the resilience of vulnerable communities are not receiving enough support. Humanitarian aid must go hand in hand with concerted efforts on people-centered governance and with political efforts proposing early and durable solutions to mitigate the compounding crisis that the region is facing.
The people of Asia struggle as they find themselves being left behind in the path towards a just and equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. They are in the midst of a climate emergency, increasing sovereign debt crisis, unjust trade and investment rules that limit policy and fiscal space. The region is also witnessing vaccine inequity all while corporate wealth and power grows with a new billionaire being made every 26 hours since the pandemic started.
National development planning is becoming more inclusive, yes, but a systematic and meaningful engagement of diverse stakeholders is needed. We need to build from people's own institutions and start experimenting with new models of global governance. “Neighbourocracy” for instance proposes inclusive neighborhood parliaments of about 30 families each, guided by principles that ensure that the “power stays with the people”. Or the concept of “sociocracy” that focuses on non-divisive decision-making, collaboration and consent.
The freedom to exercise civil and political rights is extremely important for the fulfillment of the Agenda 2030. The multi-stakeholder model of implementation, monitoring, and review, which is central to this agenda, requires civil society to have access to adequate civic space, and an enabling environment in which to operate. There is an urgent need for the international community to extend the scope of the currently limited civic space indicators which largely measure how many activists, human rights defenders and others have been kidnapped imprisoned or murdered. Additional global indicators must be developed in terms of civic space but also when it comes to monitoring governance systems- considering civic participation, rule of law, access to information and much more - for them to truly become people-centered.
Read the DECLARATION OF THE SDG 16+ FORUM ASIA here.
