Booklet on human rights laws, mechanisms compiled

Islamabad : A booklet published by Federal Ministry of Human Rights indicates that there are major 54 institutions functioning at federal and provincial level for the protection of human rights.

One can find details about the names, objectives, functions, addresses and contact numbers of all institutions in the booklet titled ‘Human Rights institutions in Pakistan.’ The booklet is part of a series of four booklets published by the ministry in order to create awareness about the existing mechanisms created by federal and provincial governments to address human rights violations in the country. The booklets compile vital information on human rights laws, policies, mechanisms and punishments for human rights violations under relevant laws in Pakistan.

The main objective of the booklets is to highlight the efforts of the government to ensure basic human rights in the country. “The Government of Pakistan is constantly trying to improve and strengthen the laws and policies to ensure rights to every human being according to the constitution and international commitments. Unfortunately, all negative developments are highlighted but the positive steps are ignores and never discouraged,” said one official of the ministry.

The four booklets titled ‘Action Plan for Human Rights,’ ‘Human Rights Legislation in Pakistan,’ ‘Human Rights institutions in Pakistan,’ and ‘Punishments for Human Rights Violations in Pakistan’ contains detailed information about the efforts done in this directions yet. The booklet ‘Action Plan for Human Rights’ provides details of the Action Plan for Human Rights approved by the Prime Minister on February 13, 2016 to further improve the human rights situation in Pakistan. The Plan was prepared by the Ministry of Human Rights on the Directives of the Prime Minister’s Office.

The plan consists of six broad areas of intervention including Policy and Legal Reforms, Access to Justice, Implementation of key Human Rights Priorities, International Treaty Implementation, Strengthening of Human Rights Institutions and Implementation and Monitoring Mechanism for Action Plan. It also mentions the proposed activities and the implementation framework which can be a good source of information for those who are following the implementation of the Action Plan.

The Action Plan envisages activities at both federal and provincial levels in collaboration with Federal Ministries and Provincial Departments. An amount of Rs 750 million has been approved to put in place the institutional mechanisms for realizing the rights proposed in the Action Plan. A National Task Force under the chairpersonship of Federal Minister for Human Rights with representation of Federal Ministers and Provincial Law and Human Rights Departments has been created for monitoring of the implementation.