Please - Odhikar

justifying that this is the only way to make sure that the victim's confess. He also questioned the
very fact that what can the ordinary people do in a system like that. The main crunch of the
justice system in South Asia or Asia is on the poor. Lot of people have pointed out that justice
has never come to the aid of the poor. Some case studies have been discussed here and Fernando
pointed out that there were difficulties in picking up the case studies. And I am sure that the
other discussants will face the same problem in picking up case studies, because there are so
many of them. If you go through today's newspaper, you will find many other similar cases as
well. People are shot in the court, they are abducted, and even though we have democracy, so
many questions still remain unanswered. My interest comes back to the media, because we have
another course that people take. We can pick up a case and keep on following it till we prove
that a person has been victimized and we can identify the powerful parties who are trying to
pressurize him/her. The press has to keep hammering and bring it all out.
Now I would like to invite Nurul Alam to share his thoughts on South Asian Regional Initiatives
that may be taken in this area.
Nurul Alam, Executive Director, South Asian Partnership: I am not a lawyer, I am just a
development worker. SAP is involved with the multi-faceted development of human rights and
violation against women. We have been running a secretariat, which has been supported by
AED. This is actually involved with coordination activities among the SAP members in
Bangladesh. In case of the protection of victim and witnesses what is the role of SAP
Bangladesh? We have assisted in the creation of a Protocol for the protection for victims and
witnesses in the crime of trafficking in South Asia.
Having considered the need for a common outlook and for common principles to inspire, guide
and protect the victim of and witness of a crime in the protection and enhancement of the human
environment, and to meet the end of justice, some South Asian organizations working in the area
of trafficking and human rights and the 'South Asian Regional Initiative/Equity Support
Program' are undertaking the endeavour to create a regional victim witness protection protocol
for South Asia. SAP, Bangladesh is proud to be a part of this initiative. If the protocol is adopted,
social workers believe that the inherent weakness in the present prosecution system for
traffickers may be reduced to some extent, if not eliminated.
Objectives of the proposed protocol include:
* To protect and safeguard the rights of women/children victims and witnesses of trafficking and
commercial exploitation and sexual abuse of children and women against intimidation,
retaliation and secondary victimisation.
* To amend, review and implement the SAARC Convention on preventing and combating
trafficking in women and children for prostitution
* To recommend amendments to national legislations
* To attempt better interpretation and enforcement of laws
* To provide an advocacy tool for organisations and NGOs
* To create an official support system for women and children within the police and court
systems
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Report 2005