‘Human rights violations constantly observed in Third World’

Pakistan is a signatory to the UN charter of human rights, but even so human rights violations are constantly observed in the country, said Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Secretary General Harris Khalique on Wednesday.

He was addressing the 30th Hamza Wahid memorial lecture on ‘The Present International Crisis and Human Rights Situation in Pakistan’ organised by the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences at the Pakistan Medical Association’s office.

Khalique said that after the world wars in the 20th century, nations across the globe sat together so that they could work for peace and basic human rights. He said that in 1948 the United Nations presented a charter of human rights, and Pakistan was also one of the signatory countries.

However, he added, human rights violations were constantly observed in Pakistan and other Third World countries. He also said that the UN charter of human rights is a common document, and all the UN member countries have made the UN charter of human rights part of their constitutions. They are civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, he added.

Khalique said that the climate crisis has adversely affected human lives across the globe. He said that it has also affected basic human rights. Climate migration has reached an alarming stage, and migrants are forced to live a very miserable life, he added.

Regarding the political crisis, he said that from Donald Trump to Imran Khan, right-wing politics of popularity have damaged the basic democratic values everywhere in the world. Khalique said that this situation has also affected basic human rights across the globe. However, he said, a religious nationalist narrative was promoted, in front of which our economy and people seem helpless. There is a long list of human rights violations in Pakistan, he added.

He also said that there is no law in the informal sector of the economy. Labourers have no right to form unions, while the lack of economical justice has created numerous hurdles for the working class and labourers, he added.

Likewise, he pointed out, religious minorities are facing forced conversions and are constantly living under pressure. He said that even their graveyards and worship places have been demolished. But the state seems helpless in front of religious extremists, he added.

Regarding enforced disappearances, he said that the issue of missing persons first came to light during the then military dictator General Pervez Musharraf’s era in 2004. The irony is that the state is still denying the reality of enforced disappearances, he lamented.

Khalique said the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances is ineffective, and it has no capacity to investigate the cases of missing persons. There is a need to present a political solution to the people who are struggling for their rights, he added.

He remarked that journalists, artistes, writers and film-makers have no freedom of expression. He said that in some cases they have faced harsh punishments, arrests and killings. He added that the provincial and federal governments have banned several books and films, while students and teachers have no academic freedom.