ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari on Monday launched the human rights complaint cell at her ministry.

She announced the launching of the cell at a meeting which was attended by ministry of human rights joint secretary, all directors general and senior officers of ministry attended.

Regional human rights directors from Quetta, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi participated in the meeting via Zoom link, says a press release.

It said that Human Rights Complaint Cell has been established under the Ministry of Human Rights for receiving, sifting, segregating and forwarding of complaints both at federal and provincial levels.

At regional levels, ministry will be looking after the process of registration of complaints through its directorate of human rights existing in provincial capitals.

With the help of this cell, the ministry would refer complaints after their registration to department/agency concerned at any level and would be getting a regular feedback for their timely redressal.

A dedicated team of the cell will maintain proper data on all kinds of complaints received.

Apart from this, human rights violations have been categorised to ensure apposite scrutiny and strong coordination among the departments.

In the meeting, Human Rights DG briefed the participants about the cell that how it has been established after multiple rounds of consultation at provincial and federal levels.

It will be operated under a well devised system generating an automated database on registration as well as tracking of complaints.

He told the participants that a special code would be allotted to every application/complaint that may be registered through any channel including written application sent through post, email or recorded on assigned telephone numbers.

After registration, ministry would perpetually monitor and take follow-up on all complaints.

While speaking on this occasion, according to press release, federal minister lauded the system and congratulated the whole team for successfully making it happen.

She said that she would personally get weekly and monthly progress report of this cell and advised all regional heads to keenly look into the cases of human rights violation in their respective area especially those reported on print, electronic and digital media.

She also enquired about few cases of Quetta from human rights director, Quetta region and urged him to check their current status from police department.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2022