Role of civil society in highlighting human rights lauded

Islamabad

To join hands with international community for commemoration of International Human Rights Day on Thursday, the Ministry of Human Rights inaugurated a two-day national conference on human rights in order to gather expert opinion on key human rights issues, especially with respect to socio-cultural realities of Pakistan.

The conference will mainly feature panel discussions around four main themes including ‘Development as a Linchpin for Human Rights,’ ‘Interfaith Harmony for Peace,’ ‘Diversity, Equality and Tolerance’ and ‘Protection of human Rights by Strengthening Institutional and Legal Framework.' “Perspectives and recommendations from the two day detailed sessions will culminate in the form of a Plan of Action to improve situation of human rights in the country,” said Ministry of Human Rights Secretary Humaira Azam.

Government officials from federal and provincial level, activists, experts and representatives of NGOs and INGOs will participate in the conference which was inaugurated by the Special Assistant to Prime Minster on Human Rights Zafarullah Khan on Thursdsay.

In his inaugural address, Zafarullah Khan said that human rights are inalienable rights of all human beings which are protected through national, international and regional efforts. He appreciated the decision of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s for making Ministry of Human Rights a separate entity.

"The Ministry of Human Rights and Ministry of Law and Justice were joined in recent past to limit the number of ministries at federal level after 18th Amendment but after considering the demands of civil society and international community, prime minister took the decision of separate the two ministries,” he said.

He said that the ministry has initiated the process of formulating first ever national policy on human rights and the conference is part of the consultative process which will be initiated at national and provincial level to come up with a comprehensive document.

Zafarullah acknowledged the role of civil society in the promotion of human rights in the country. “There can be difference of opinion with regard to their performance but the fact is that civil society has played very important role and have made many sacrifices in advocating for the issues related to human rights in the country,” he said adding government alone cannot achieve human rights targets and goals without the help of civil society and international community.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister also shared his plans of restructuring the Ministry of Human Rights which he said would be divided in different expert sections. He said that strengthening of National Commission on Human Rights and establishment of National Commission on the Rights of Children is also high on the agenda of the Ministry. “For all these efforts, we would need support and expertise from the civil society,” he said.

He also talked about the importance of authenticity of data and gave example of the data quoted by the civil society activists during anti Hudood Ordinance movement. “They quoted that more than 16,000 women were in jails due to Hudood Ordinance which actually turned out to be only 800 all over the country. I think that not even a single woman should face the jail under false charges but there is a need to stay realistic while advocating for human rights,” he said.

Deputy Country Director for the Asia Foundation Amina Elahi said that apart from individual suffering, discrimination on part of religion, cast, colour, age or gender leads to a huge loss to a nation as majority of the population fails to utilize their potential and contribute in the development process. “Without the respect of human rights, no country can prosper democratically, socially and economically,” she said.