- Govt mulls carrying out UN-proposed rights’ measures
- UN suggests penalisation of people involved in extrajudicial practices without discrimination
- Asks country to end use of paramilitary forces to carry out law enforcement tasks
Following the recommendations of the United Nations, the federal government has asked the authorities concerned to take legislative and administrative measures to limit the role of the military in the civilian domains, a local media outlet reported on Thursday.
According to a report published in DawnNews, the UN urged Islamabad to ensure the implementation of 111 recommendations made by its committees.
Upon which, the Ministry of Human Rights forwarded these recommendations to the relevant departments and ministries for further action, in line with the UN requests.
“Pakistan had ratified seven ‘core human rights conventions’. In this regard, four reports had been prepared and submitted to relevant treaty bodies through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Dawn quoted the ministry as saying.
In view of that, a high-level delegation led by the human rights minister presented the reports before the concerned UN committees in the review meetings held during 2016 and 2017. Following the meetings, the committee, while reviewing the obligatory reports, had made recommendations on the four reports.
In the light of these recommendations, the human rights ministry sent the matrix to all the concerned departments, asking them to take “requisite legislative, policy and administrative measures”.
Do away with death penalty
The UN asked Pakistan to put a moratorium on the capital punishment and “consider abolishing the death penalty”, the document said.
If Pakistan does not want to abolish the death sentence, then it should not be imposed by the military courts, especially for the civilian. Limiting the role death sentence in the society, the UN recommended that it should be awarded only for the most serious crimes, involving intentional killings.
The UN body also recommended to abolish the role of military courts or at least limit their role. Those who are convicted by a military court should be provided with a right to appeal against the sentence before a civil court, it was recommended.
Over the recent hullaballoo regarding detentions centres and enforced disappearances in the country, the UN committees recommended to “repeal or amend Actions in Aid of Civil Power Regulations 2011 in order to abolish the military’s power to establish internment centres in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) and Provincially Administrated Tribal Areas (PATA)”, it was reported.
The body also recommended granting permission to local and international non-governmental bodies to make visits to all detention centres. According to the document, it was also recommended to “end the use of paramilitary forces to carry out law enforcement tasks”.
“Pakistan must need to ensure that no one in the country would be held in detention extra-judicially,” the world body said.
In order to bring everyone to the justice without any privileges, the UN recommended to amending the Army Act 2015 to eliminate retrospective immunity. It suggested anyone committing acts of torture must be subjected to criminal prosecutions.
The committees also recommended to strengthening the powers of the National Commission of Human Rights, besides making ensure that the commission is able to investigate all cases of torture and ill-treatment committed by any entity carrying out arrest and detentions.
Afghan Refugees
On the issue of Afghan refugees, the UN body asked Pakistan to take steps towards curbing the increasing hostility against the refugees, especially by police and security forces.
It also asked the Pakistani government to “expedite the adoption of national refugee law and a voluntary repatriation policy on refugees”.