The Democracy Reporting International (DRI) and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) jointly organised a roundtable on civil society’s role in GSPPlus monitoring compliance. Over 60 representatives belonging to the civil society, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs), bar councils, media and trade unions from different cities of Punjab attended the consultation.
The roundtable is the part of a series of five consultations to be held across the country aiming at bringing together a broader group of civil society actors including rights groups, NGOs, lawyers community, academia, and media to identify, debate and evolve consensus on the role of civil society in advocating for and monitoring human rights standards in the country, especially in the backdrop of the granting of the GSPPlus to Pakistan in 2014.
Participants of the consultation welcomed the GSPPlus status calling it a positive step towards economic development of Pakistan. They expressed the hope that the trickledown effect of this trade facility would be helpful in creating employment opportunities, and contributing to poverty reduction in the country.
Furthermore, the compliance obligation to 27 international conventions is an opportunity to improve human rights situation in Pakistan.
In his presentation, DRI team leader Zulfiqar Shah shared the details of the GSPPlus, the compliance requirements and the reporting mechanisms.
“The GSPPlus is a strong opportunity for the civil society to pursue rights implementation in the country,” he added.
In his speech, Peter Jacob, a representative of the Centre for Social Justice, said that an additional international human rights oversight mechanism had been made available under this trade facility. It was now up to the civil society of Pakistan to use this opportunity to promote human rights in the country.
He said that keeping in view the lack of commitment on the part of the state to address rights violations in the country, civil society will have to strategise its role in terms of monitoring and engaging the national and provincial rights institutions.
All Pakistan Workers Confederation General Secretary Usama Tariq was of the opinion that this trade facility is a golden opportunity for the working class, adding that the workers should raise their demands and pressurise the government to comply with all the ILO conventions related to workers right of association, collective bargaining, occupational safety and health, equal and minimum wage standards, social security etc.
He stressed that the government should ensure establishment of bipartite and tripartite mechanisms which would help in enabling workers to negotiate their rights in a better way.
While talking on the role of the bar councils, Advocate Munaza Hashmi suggested that lawyers had strong network and coordination mechanism ranging from local to national levels. This strong coordination significantly contributed in the lawyers’ movement, she added.
“This network can be engaged to strengthen advocacy and pressure building for human rights in the country,” she said, adding that there was a need to activate free legal aid committees and legal empowerment committees, especially at the district level, to legally pursue human rights violations at the grass root level.
Punjab Union of Journalists General Secretary Aamir Sohail pointed out that civil society is currently working in isolation. NGOs, media, bar councils, trade unions and other sections of the society needed to collaborate for the promotion of rights in country.
Renowned Human Rights Activist IA Rehman said that Pakistan was granted the status of GSPPlus despite much reservations from the rights bodies in Europe that objected over Pakistan’s human rights track record.
However, months after being granted the status, Pakistan resumed death penalty in the country violating an important convention related to GSP-Plus, he pointed. He emphasised that the potential of raise in export revenue associated with the GSPPlus status needs to be translated in benefits for the workers associated with the production of goods exported under the regime. He noted that the textile sector may have made a significant contribution to the economy, however, it is the agriculture sector that absorbs the highest proportion of the country’s labour force.
Rehman criticised the nonserious approach of the state in acknowledging the gaps in human rights in the country which is also evident when the state authorities are reporting on rights implementation to international bodies.
“They are in complete denial of successive violation of human rights as can be in rampant racism, atrocities against nonMuslims, child labour as well as absence of access to schooling to children, unequal status of women, crushing of workers and disregard for the environment,” he added.
He also addressed the civil society sector saying that rights advocates need to look at human rights as a broader, collective agenda rather than dividing and working on them in sections.
“The GSPPlus has brought all important rights under one umbrella, which is very encouraging,” he said.
A resolution was also passed following the discussion on the floor. The participants agreed to form a committee to pursue the monitoring and advocacy of the rights enshrined in the GSPPlus conventions. They agreed that the civil society has an opportunity to participate in the monitoring of the implementation of the covenants, conventions and treaties associated with the status and they can also act as pressure groups to engage the state, the business community and international bodies to contribute to improve the human rights situation in the country.
