SAHR carried out a comparative study on the best parliamentary practices in the region, and has put forward a publication titled “Right to Transparent Governance” Guidelines (RTG Guidelines).

SAHR now plans to take these Guidelines forward by carrying out a Parliamentary Watch program in collation with Transparency International.

The watch will be conducted in Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal, and monthly reports will be issued on an ongoing basis.

The watch is set to kick off in Sri Lanka in March 2010, and very soon in the rest of the countries in the region.

There will be 2 aspects to the Parliamentary Watch program:

1^st Aspect

The first aspect involves rating Parliament for its transparency, accountability, integrity and independence against indicators derived from best practices in SAHR’s RTG Guidelines and indicators suggested by TI’s Research Department.

Parliament’s functioning will be analyzed in respect of these indicators, with special attention to the Rule Book of parliament and how these provisions are practiced in reality.

Such things as Calendar of parliament, calendar of business, record of business conducted, record of attendance, records of debates and discussions will be studied.

2^nd Aspect

The second aspect involves the study of parliament’s role in legislating issues that reflect human rights concerns.

Specific areas of interest to SAHR include – minority rights, extra judicial killings, law enforcement, women’s children’s and workers’ rights, corruption etc.

Communications

SAHR wishes to take the findings of the Parliament Watch to policy makers, parliamentarians and communities.

We have opted to disseminate and analyze the monthly report of parliament watch through

1. SAHR Newsletter & website
2. Media – TV, Newspaper
3. Issue groups & other NGOs
4. At Members’ Meetings
5. TV Talk shows