HRCP decries poor state of implementation of laws in country

HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

Islamabad

The federal parliament made 51 laws in 2016, more than double the previous year's output of 20 laws, but about three million cases remained pending in the country's courts in 2016 depicting the poor state of the implementation of laws.

The contrasting statistics were shared in the State of Human Rights Report 2016 launched by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Wednesday. Eminent rights activist and HRCP spokesperson Asma Jahangir shared the salient features of the report with the gathering media, human rights activists, diplomats, representatives of national and international civil society organizations, academicians and researchers.

The report says that deaths linked to terrorism in Pakistan dropped 45 per cent in 2016 compared with 2015 with 48 per cent. “We have improved in the protection of human rights as compared to past but there is still a long way to go,” said Asma emphasising the role civil society can play in holding the state accountable for the human rights violations in the country.

Identifying some other critical areas, the report says that another 728 Pakistanis were added to the list of missing persons in 2016 - the highest in at least six years - taking the total to 1,219. It further mentions that 44 percent of children had stunted growth and 9 per cent (24 million) of the world's 263 million out-of-school children, adolescents and youth, are in Pakistan. The number of abused children remained 11 per day and showing an increase of 10 per cent from 2015 whereas around 48 per cent of schools in the country do not have toilets, boundary walls, electricity and drinking water.

About legal reforms, the report says that ordinances promulgated by the president decreased from 12 in 2015 to six in 2016 whereas provincial legislatures adopted 81 laws in 2016, a significantly low output compared to the 120 laws enacted in 2015. It says that with 30 laws enacted, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had the highest legislative output, followed by Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan. It says that the incidents of violence against judges and lawyers increased sense of insecurity among law people.

The report highlights that freedom of movement continued to be stunted in 2016, mainly because of poor law and order, militancy and counter­insurgency measures, and natural disasters. 426 people were sentenced to death in 2016 while 87 were executed in 2016. Number of prisoners was 84,315 prisoners in different jails. Punjab jails held 49,603 prisoners against a capacity of 23,617, Sindh 20,308 against 12,245 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 11,200 against 7,547.

While presenting the situation of freedom of thought and religion, Asma expressed concern over the situation of Ahmedi community and the incitement of violence in the name of religion on traditional and social media. She said that impunity given to the violators is deeply concerning for human rights activists.

The report highlighted many incidents where minorities were targeted in 2016 and mentions a figure of 30 where Muslim sects were targeted, much more in number than the incidents where minorities were attacked. The report appreciated Sindh Assembly for approving the Sindh Hindu Marriage Act to enable Hindus, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians to register their marriages.

About freedom of expression, the report says that six journalists and a blogger were killed in 2016 and the fallout of certain news reports escalated the environment of intimidation of the media and increased levels of self-­censorship by the media. The report also criticized the Cyber law which is says sought to restrict the boundaries of criticism aimed at officialdom and allowed the authorities to intercept communications by the citizens, including journalists, political activists and rights campaigners. It reports that civil society activists came under slanderous attacks online for their advocacy of peace.

The report says that in 2016, implementation of section 144 of the Pakistan Penal Code and use of violence by the government restricted the freedom of assembly. Blocking of roads and thoroughfares affected the citizens' fundamental right to public passage. The report also talks about the sexual harassment of women activists by men at political rallies.

The report says that the lingering concerns with regard to right to assembly are the denial of the right of association to home-based workers, students and unregistered labourers which remained unresolved. It says that though the local governments became operational in 2016, the revision of electoral rolls exposed a serious nationwide gender gap of 12.52 percent i.e. 42.42 million women voters against 54.59 million male voters on the electoral register.

It states that despite several legislative developments to strengthen the women protection system, no significant decline was seen in the number of cases of violence against women. The percentage of women in the labour force was 26% for women aged between 15-64 years, equivalent to almost 14 million women and no industry or sector employed more than 30 per cent women. Education levels of females remained disproportionately low compared to males. HRCP media monitoring showed that there were more than 2500 victims of violence against women in 2016.

In health sector, the report mentions, Pakistan had a ratio of one doctor per 1038 person, one hospital bed for '1613 person and one dentist for 11513 persons. Around 50 million people in the country had various psychological problems but, according to WHO, the country had only 320 psychiatrists and only five psychiatric hospitals

The report mentions German watch's Global Climate Risk Index 2017 which ranks Pakistan 7th among countries most vulnerable to climate change. Around 80 per cent of Pakistanis were consuming water that was contaminated or unsafe. A 2016 World Health Organization report ranked Peshawar and Rawalpindi 2nd and 4th, respectively, in the list of cities with the most air pollution.