Society based on principles of justice to be built: minister

LAHORE : Provincial Minister for Human Rights and Minority Affairs Ijaz Alam Augustine has said the Punjab government is determined to build a society based on the principles of social and economic justice and the collaboration of UNDP would be helpful in this regard.

The UNDP would be helpful to achieve the goals of Punjab Human Rights Department, the minister said on Wednesday while chairing a meeting held to review the proposal of UNDP for working together.

The team of UNDP briefed to the minister that UNDP was already working with the federal government and other provinces and was willing to work with Punjab Human Rights Department.

They told the minister that they wanted to provide technical and other assistance to support the department in formulation of a provincial human data collection mechanism.

UNDP Pakistan will develop a capacity-building training programme for the provincial line departments, including Punjab Treaty Implementation Cell, regarding basic human rights obligations as well as the implementation of a pilot initiative for capacity building of the staff at the district level.

It will also facilitate the department in establishing and maintaining linkages with the relevant provincial and national stakeholders. Through this collaboration, UNDP Pakistan will undertake initiatives to create awareness on the existing rights based mechanisms in Punjab.

The provincial minister assured the UNDP team that the proposal of UNDP would be considered and implemented soon after approval of the cabinet. The experts from UNDP, Emna Bell, Irum Ali and Shahzad Ahmed were also present.