ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Human Rights (MOHR) has kicked off a campaign to raise awareness among the people at the grass-root level for their education, guidance and easy accessibility to the mechanism developed for the implementation of human rights serving departments.
For the purpose, the ministry has got published four booklets containing vital information on human rights laws, including punishments for human rights violations, policies and mechanisms.
According to official sources, the main objective of the booklets was to create awareness about the mechanisms created by the federal and provincial governments to address human rights violations in the country.
“The government is constantly trying to improve and strengthen the laws and policies to ensure rights to every citizen according to the constitution and international commitments. Unfortunately, all negative developments are highlighted but the positive steps are ignored,” the sources said.
The first booklet entitled `Action Plan for Human Rights’ provides details of the action plan approved by the prime minister on February 13, 2016, to further improve the human rights situation in the country. 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 the implementation and monitoring mechanism for the 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.
It envisages activities at both federal and provincial levels in collaboration with the federal ministries and provincial departments. An amount of Rs750 million has been approved to put in place the institutional mechanisms for realising the rights proposed in the action plan. A national task force under the chairpersonship of the federal minister for human rights with the representation of federal ministries and provincial law and human rights departments, has been created for the monitoring of the implementation.
The second booklet `Human Rights Legislation in Pakistan’ describes the fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution and human rights related major laws enacted so far at federal and provincial levels. Its purpose is a wider dissemination of the laws at all levels with a view to raise awareness among officials and the general public for their implementation in letter and spirit.
The booklet starts with the details of the rights committed in the 1973 constitution followed by those of international covenants ratified by Pakistan and a list of 95 federal level laws on civil, political, economic, women, child and minority rights enacted since 1860. There are 65 laws on civil, political and economic rights, 13 on women rights, seven on child rights and 10 on minority rights at the federal level. There are 35 laws in Punjab, 24 in Sindh, 40 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 22 in Balochistan, which deal with civil, political, economic, women, child and minority rights.
The third one `Human Rights institutions in Pakistan’ comprises a directory of human rights institutions in Pakistan containing information on major government organisations and institutions working for the protection and promotion of human rights.
According to the booklet, there are 54 major institutions functioning at the federal and provincial levels for human rights. One can find details about the names, objectives, functions, addresses and contact numbers of all institutions in the booklet. These institutions include commissions, shelters, helplines, child protection centres, ombudspersons, funds, human rights cells and other departments.
The fourth booklet `Punishments for Human Rights Violations in Pakistan’ elaborates a matrix of the major categories of human rights violations against women, children, minorities and persons with disability and punishments under relevant laws. It serves as a great source of information for researchers, lawyers, activists, law enforcers and the general public, and also acts as a deterrent against possible crimes.
Federal secretary of the ministry of human rights Ms Rabiya Javeri Agha said that the information compiled by the ministry was vital not only for policymakers, law enforcement agencies and other duty bearers but also for the general public regarding protection of civil, political, legal, social and economic rights in the country.
