Parliament Watch
Feb
18
2010
SAHR carried out a comparative study on the best parliamentary practices in the region, and has put forward a publication titled “Transparency in Parliament” which comprises the 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 is conducted in Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, and monthly reports will be issued on an ongoing basis.
There are 2 aspects to the Parliamentary Watch program:
1st 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.
2nd 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.
Feb
01
2010
This publication is on the state of transparency in parliaments in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It examines the extent to which parliaments are accessible and open from the point of view of both Members of Parliament (MPs) and citizens.
An earlier version of this publication was presented as a paper at a regional workshop organised by SAHR in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 21 April 2009 on the ‘Right to Transparent Governance’ (RTG). The present publication counts with comments and suggestions by workshop participants.
This workshop follows from a series of national and regional consultations on RTG that were organised by SAHR across the region during 2007, which provided a basis to identify issues regarding transparency in government that affect all countries of the region. Subsequently SAHR constituted a committee to oversee and continue work in this sphere; it met in early 2008 to draw up a draft regional convention titled “Citizens’ Charter for Transparent Governance”, which was deliberated at the workshop in Dhaka.
Agreed at the workshop and included in this publication are ‘Summary Principles for Engendering Transparency in Parliament’, as well as a set of detailed guidelines recommended for improving transparency and accountability in the functioning of parliaments across South Asia.
Download Transparency in Parliament
Jan
01
2010
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