ISLAMABAD: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), while welcoming the response of the Ministry of Human Rights to its annual report, has claimed that all positive steps taken by the government have been mentioned in the report titled State of Human Rights in Pakistan in 2019.

In a statement on Sunday, the commission said the ministry’s response recognises that the HRCP has raised some pertinent issues. This augurs well for a constructive engagement between the government and independent human rights bodies.

The Ministry of Human Rights claimed that the HRCP, in its annual report, had overlooked major steps taken last year for securing and safeguarding the rights of vulnerable groups.

The ministry said that the HRCP report accurately cited an alarmingly high number of cases of violence against women and children. However, it did not account for the important institutional and legislative measures taken to safeguard and promote their rights.

This includes the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Act, 2020, which was introduced in the parliament in 2019, and the National Action Plan against Child Abuse that has been prepared by the ministry and submitted to the Prime Minister Office.

The ministry claimed that a number of other important steps had also been taken towards criminalisation of domestic violence and awareness campaigns on the issue in the media.

The ministry said the previous year had featured some important progress with regard to the rights of prisoners. In 2019, the Ministry of Human Rights released a report on prison reforms.

The Islamabad High Court has constituted an implementation commission on prison reforms on the basis of this report. The commission is being led by the ministry.

The human rights ministry mentioned a number of other positive steps and claimed that they were not discussed in the HRCP report.

Meanwhile, in response to the HRCP’s annual report, retired Justice Ali Nawaz Chohan has said that the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), the official human rights body, has been rendered dysfunctional with a design.

He said that in the HRCP report some issues had skipped attention, for example the state of the NCHR.

The former judge said that the state had not been able to meet its obligations under different United Nations covenants.

According to him, the NCHR had been exposing government failures and submitting information to the treaty implementation body with the ministry of commerce, which has to respond to the European Union as Pakistan is a beneficiary of economic benefits under GSP plus if it implements the 27 core treaties.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2020