ISLAMABAD: To strengthen the protection, promotion and enforcement of human rights, the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) government, with the support of Huqooq-e-Pakistan (HeP) project, will develop its first human rights policy.
In collaboration with HeP Project, the GB government institutions will get into consultations with all stakeholders in Gilgit-Baltistan to develop the policy which will build upon legislative and policy initiatives already undertaken in GB and expand the scope and scale of future endeavours.
The HeP is a European Union (EU) funded programme with the objective of supporting the continued efforts of the government of Pakistan for the promotion of human rights. The purpose of the programme is to strengthen the institutional and policy framework at the federal and the provincial level for the promotion and protection of human rights.
Besides formulation of first ever human rights policy, the project will undertake several other initiatives in GB to strengthen human rights protection mechanisms. Explaining a few initiatives, senior key expert HeP programme Ali Dayan Hasan said that the project is supporting deployment of young experts from GB in Social Welfare and Human Rights Department to bridge human-resource gaps in successfully carrying out its mandate.
“Besides that, several trainings will be organised under this initiative on Pakistan’s international human rights obligations, human rights documentation, data collection and enhancement of IT skills,” said Hasan, adding that the project will also be working on developing human rights knowledge base of the GB human rights related departments through the provision of e-journals, e-databases and publications.
He said that another major activity will be the formulation of guidelines for cooperation and collaboration between provincial Human Rights Departments and the Federal Ministry of Human Rights.
Head of Cooperation, EU Delegation Pakistan, Ovidiu Mic expressed hope that HeP initiatives in GB would prove to be a significant contribution in capacity building and institutional strengthening of human rights related departments. He said that respect of human rights and rule of law are the core of all EU activities both in Europe and outside.
As part of this initiative, a two-day training on “Pakistan’s International Human Rights Reporting Obligations” was organised in GB which was attended by around 25 focal persons from all relevant departments. Minister for Environment Maulana Syed Sarwar Shah and Minister for Social Welfare and Human Rights Sheikh Nasir Hussain Zamani jointly graced the concluding event of the trainings as chief guests. Secretary Social Welfare and Human Rights for GB Sanaullah also attended the concluding event.
In their concluding remarks, the ministers appreciated the support of HeP project and expressed hope that the collaboration and support will continue in future. They said that that it is the responsibility of the state to protect the rights of citizens.