December 11, 2006	Monday	Ziqa'ad 19, 1427

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RAWALPINDI, Dec 10: Pakistan has formally conveyed to the United Nations that it was working for early ratification of three human rights treaties -- the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and the Convention against Torture.

Sources said that the Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights were part of the International Bill of Human Rights which also included the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Statistics gathered show out of the 12 human rights treaties, Pakistan had so far ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and Convention on the Rights of the Child, while acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. In addition, Pakistan has signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict; and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Pakistan has already been elected to the 47-member Human Rights Council for a three-year term, which started in 2006.

Sources also said that an independent national human rights institution was also being set up with broad powers to investigate human rights violations in all aspects of its domestic constituencies.

Measures were also being taken to promote awareness of human rights in the society by introducing human rights component in education curricula at all levels and mass awareness campaigns through media and civil society with particular emphasis on the rights of vulnerable groups, including women and children.

Measures had been taken to improve police training, particularly in the area of human rights, and to reform law enforcement institutions.

In a bid to combat domestic violence, the government had initiated the Pakistan Family Protection Project and planned to launch a large-scale media campaign on the issue over the next three years.