SAARC Charter and Bhutan

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established on 8 December 1985 with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka, Bangladesh, by the leaders of seven South Asian nations: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan joined as the eighth member in 2007. Bhutan, as one of the founding signatories, has been an active participant in the regional body since its inception, contributing to its agenda on economic cooperation, environmental conservation, cultural exchange, and development despite being the organisation’s smallest member state by both population and territory.^[1]

The SAARC Charter established a framework for regional cooperation based on the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, non-interference in internal affairs, and mutual benefit. Decisions within SAARC require unanimity, and bilateral and contentious issues are explicitly excluded from deliberation — provisions that have both protected smaller states like Bhutan from coercion and severely limited the organisation’s ability to address its most pressing challenges. For Bhutan, SAARC membership has provided a multilateral platform that complements its bilateral relationships, particularly the dominant relationship with India under the Indo-Bhutan Friendship Treaty.^[2]

Despite SAARC’s limitations — the organisation has been described by critics as South Asia’s most underperforming regional body — Bhutan has used the platform to advance positions on environmental sustainability, Gross National Happiness as a development paradigm, and the importance of South–South cooperation.

Founding and the SAARC Charter

The idea of a South Asian regional forum was first proposed by Bangladeshi President Ziaur Rahman in 1980. After several years of preparatory meetings and the adoption of the Declaration on South Asian Regional Cooperation in 1983, the seven founding members met in Dhaka in December 1985 to formally establish SAARC and sign its charter. Bhutan’s Fourth Druk Gyalpo, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, participated in the inaugural summit and endorsed the charter, which established the organisation’s objectives, principles, and institutional structure.

The Charter set out SAARC’s core objectives: promoting the welfare of the peoples of South Asia; accelerating economic growth, social progress, and cultural development; strengthening collective self-reliance; promoting active collaboration and mutual assistance; and cooperating with other international and regional organisations. Importantly, Article X of the Charter stipulated that decisions at all levels “shall be taken on the basis of unanimity” and that “bilateral and contentious issues shall be excluded from the deliberations.” This consensus requirement has been both a safeguard for small states and the primary obstacle to meaningful collective action.^[1]

Bhutan’s Role in SAARC

Hosting SAARC Summits

Bhutan has hosted the SAARC Summit twice: the fourth summit in 1988 and the sixteenth summit in 2010, both held in Thimphu. The 2010 summit, chaired by Prime Minister Jigme Thinley, was notable for its emphasis on climate change and environmental cooperation — themes of particular importance to Bhutan, which faces existential risks from glacial lake outburst floods and shifting monsoon patterns. The summit adopted the Thimphu Statement on Climate Change, which called for enhanced regional cooperation on climate adaptation and mitigation.^[3]

Thematic Contributions

Bhutan has been an influential voice within SAARC on issues of environmental governance and alternative development paradigms. Bhutan’s promotion of Gross National Happiness as a framework for measuring development beyond GDP has resonated within SAARC discussions on poverty reduction and human development. Bhutan has also contributed to SAARC initiatives on biodiversity conservation, disaster management, and the preservation of traditional knowledge systems.

As a landlocked country with a small economy, Bhutan has been a consistent advocate for preferential treatment of least-developed countries (LDCs) within SAARC’s trade and economic frameworks. Bhutan was among the signatories of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement in 2004, which aimed to reduce customs duties across the region, and has participated in SAARC initiatives on energy cooperation, including cross-border electricity trade — an area of direct relevance to Bhutan’s hydropower-based economy.

SAARC Institutions in Bhutan

Bhutan is not currently host to any of the SAARC regional centres, which are distributed among the larger member states. However, Bhutanese officials and scholars have participated actively in SAARC’s various technical committees, working groups, and recognised bodies, including those on agriculture, health, education, and the environment.

The Refugee Issue at SAARC Forums

The Bhutanese refugee crisis, which resulted in the expulsion of approximately 100,000 Lhotshampa (ethnic Nepali) citizens in the early 1990s, has been raised at SAARC forums, though the organisation’s charter provisions excluding bilateral and contentious issues have prevented substantive collective action. Nepal, as the primary host country for Bhutanese refugees in camps in its southeastern districts, periodically brought the issue to the attention of SAARC summits, but Bhutan consistently invoked the bilateral exclusion clause to prevent formal discussion.

The inability of SAARC to address the refugee crisis — one of the most significant human rights situations in South Asia during the 1990s and 2000s — is frequently cited as an example of the organisation’s structural limitations. Diaspora advocacy groups and international human rights organisations, including the Association of Human Rights Activists, Bhutan (AHURA Bhutan), called on SAARC to take a collective position on the crisis, but the unanimity requirement ensured that no resolution could be adopted over Bhutan’s objection. The crisis was ultimately addressed through bilateral Nepal–Bhutan talks (which produced no significant results) and, eventually, through the third-country resettlement programme coordinated by UNHCR beginning in 2007.^[4]

Limitations of SAARC

SAARC has been widely regarded as one of the least effective regional organisations in the world. The India–Pakistan rivalry has repeatedly paralysed the organisation, with summits cancelled or postponed due to bilateral tensions. Between 2014 and 2025, no SAARC summit has been held, effectively rendering the body dormant at the heads-of-state level. For Bhutan, this stagnation has been frustrating but has also reinforced the importance of alternative platforms such as BIMSTEC (the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), in which Bhutan is also an active participant.

The consensus requirement, while protecting Bhutan and other small states from being overridden on sensitive issues, has simultaneously prevented SAARC from addressing regional challenges in trade liberalisation, connectivity, counterterrorism, and human rights. Bhutanese diplomats have privately acknowledged the organisation’s shortcomings while maintaining that the principle of sovereign equality embedded in the charter remains essential for small states in a region dominated by two nuclear-armed neighbours.

References

1. “SAARC Charter.” SAARC Secretariat.
2. “South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.” Wikipedia.
3. “16th SAARC Summit.” Wikipedia.
4. “Bhutanese refugees.” Wikipedia.

Contributed by Anonymous Contributor, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania