President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday signed the National Commission for Human Rights Bill 2012 for the promotion and protection of human rights in the country as provided for in the constitution of the country and the various international instruments to which Pakistan is a state party or shall become a state party.
The signing ceremony, held at Bilawal House, was attended among others by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, federal ministers Rehman Malik and Maula Bakhsh Chandio and Adviser to Prime Minister on Human Rights Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.
Briefing reporters, spokesman to the president Farhatullah Babar said with the signing of the bill into law, Pakistan had fulfilled a core requirement of the two decades-old Paris Declaration of 1993 calling upon states to set up an independent human rights commissions, which was reiterated by the United Nations in 2008 soon after the government took office.
“An international commitment outstanding for the past nearly quarter of a century has been fulfilled today,” he said, adding, “It is no mean achievement considering the fact that Pakistan is fighting a war against militancy and complaints of human rights violations have been surfacing”.
He said according to the bill, the commission that will be headquartered in Islamabad, will consist of 10 members including a chairman and a member each from the four provinces, FATA and the Islamabad Capital Territory, minorities and the chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women. At least two members of the commission would be women.
The person who will be eligible for appointment as chairman will be someone who has been, or is qualified to be, a judge of the Supreme Court or a person having demonstrable knowledge of, or practical knowledge of, or practical experience in, matters relating to human rights.
Similarly, a member shall not be less than 40 years of age and shall have the knowledge and experience relating to human rights. The chairman and members shall hold the office for a term of four years that may be extended once.
The commission or any person authorised by it may visit any jail, place of detention or any other institution or place under the control of the government or its agencies, where convicts, under trial prisoners, detainees or other person are lodged or detained for purposes of ascertaining the legality of their detention as well as to find out whether the provisions of the applicable laws or other provision relating to the inmates living conditions and their other rights are being complied with.
