Flights of Falsity: Ahead of crucial UN meet on human rights, Pakistan takes global body for a ride

Geneva: Pakistan’s lies and false claims have been exposed before the United Nations ahead of the global body’s mandatory review of the country’s human rights record on January 30, Monday.

A report by a human rights group has exposed at least 10 false claims in Pakistan’s submission to the UN Human Rights Council.

“Pakistan’s submission to the UN about its human rights record is filled with lies. Our report documents 10 false claims, and we call on the UN Human Rights Council on Monday to hold the Pakistani regime’s representatives to account for trying to cover up gross and systematic human rights violations,” Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch, an independent non-governmental human rights organisation.

Neuer further said that the UN must urge Pakistan’s regime “to put an end to torture, enforced disappearances, child labor, and violence against women, and to stop crushing independent media, censoring Facebook and Twitter, persecuting Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Shia, and Ahmadis, hosting terrorist groups, and backing China’s persecution of Muslim Uighurs.”

Pakistan’s 10 false claims

1 – Laws to protect women in Pakistan ‘weak’

As per Pakistan, “In addition to policy measures, Pakistan has also enacted various legislations to address VAW including harassment, deprivation from inheritance, domestic violence, acid throwing, and rape.”

However, the reality is different from what the country claims. According to UN Women, though Pakistan has enacted laws to empower and protect women, the implementation of these laws is weak.

The UN further said, in Pakistan, more than 34 per cent of women who are or have been married have experienced spousal physical, sexual, or emotional violence, and 56 per cent of those women did not seek help or tell anyone.

2 – 19 million child brides in Pakistan

The country claims that “since the subject of child marriage has been devolved to provinces every provincial government has taken its own initiatives to revise the age of marriage…”

But in reality Pakistan, as per United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), has 19 million child brides.

The UN experts on 16 January expressed shock over the child marriage practice still prevalent in Pakistan. “We are deeply troubled to hear that girls as young as 13 are being kidnapped from their families, trafficked to locations far from their homes, made to marry men sometimes twice their age, and coerced to convert to Islam, all in violation of international human rights law,” the UN said in a statement.

Pakistani courts were also accused by the UN experts for allowing the child marriages. In October 2022, former Balochistan lawmaker Yasmin Lehri claimed that in the rural areas of Balochistan almost all girls are married before the age of 18.

3 – High rate of child labor and exploitation

“Legislation prohibiting employment of children is in force across the country,” Pakistan claims.

The reality is in fact different with Pakistan still having high rates of child labor and exploitation.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concerns over the issue of child labor when it last reviewed Pakistan in 2016. In January 2023, Punjab Provincial Assembly Member Sadia Sohail remarked that “Child labour is a social evil, which cannot be neglected. The state has not been able to safeguard children’s rights and wellbeing, therefore an emergency should be imposed to tackle the issue of child labour.”

4- Minorities unwelcomed in Pakistan

Pakistan says that its government has taken “several legislative, policy and administrative measures to protect minorities and promote their public participation”.

The reality is completely opposite to what the country proclaims. In Pakistan, minorities, who comprise of 4 per cent of the population, are particularly unwelcome.

The Pakistani Constitution discriminates against minorities and prevents them from rising in political ranks.

Hindus in Pakistan, who are among the minorities in the country, have been constant victims of attacks. Minors and women abducted, raped, forcefully converted and married to their Muslim abductors in the nation governed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

In June 2022, a Hindu Temple in Karachi was desecrated. In October, Deutsche Welle reported a rise in hate crimes against minorities in Pakistan.

5. Gender Equality

Pakistan claims that its government has “enacted a number of laws, policies, programs and other measures to remove gender disparity and empower women”.

But according to the Global Gender Gap Index Report 2022, Pakistan ranks near the bottom, scoring 145/156 for economic participation and opportunity, 135/156 for educational attainment, 143/156 for health and survival, and 95/156 for political empowerment.

According to UN Women, Pakistani women account for less than 25 per cent of the workforce, and women’s income is about 16 per cent of a man’s income.

6 – Enforced Disappearances

Pakistan says that the alleged cases of missing persons are being “expeditiously and efficiently dealt by the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances”.

Interestingly, this claim has been directly contradicted by the Islamabad High Court which, in June 2022, rendered a decision highly critical of Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances.

The Chief Justice said that the Commission had failed to meet its responsibility and called the Commission “a burden” which must “justify its continued existence.”

7 – Blasphemy Laws

The government of Pakistan claims that it is committed to curb the misuse of blasphemy laws. But as per a NGO in Islamabad, Center for Social Justice, at least 84 people were accused of blasphemy in the country and three people were extra-judicially killed in 2021.

In October 2022, two people were killed within days of each other for blasphemy. A Pakistani court, earlier this year, sentenced a woman to death for sharing images on WhatsApp that were considered insulting to Prophet Muhammad.

8 – Journalists attacked in Pakistan

Pakistan claims that it “values the role of free media… ”

However, the brutal reality of Pakistan has been brought by Reporters without Borders which said that country ranks 157 out of 180 for media freedom—in the bottom 15 per cent.

As per Freedom House, the media in Pakistan is targeted by both the civilian authorities and the military. Journalists have been violently attacked by military agents.

9 – Democracy and Fundamental Freedoms

Pakistan claims that as a “vibrant democracy”, it will continue to “uphold fundamental freedoms including meeting people’s needs and providing an enabling environment for the continued exercise their rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association.”

However, the truth is Pakistan is ranked “Partly Free” by Freedom House with a low score of 37/100, meaning that it is not a “free democracy.”

This ranking is attributed to various factors including the influence of the military, attacks by Islamist militants, and restrictions on civil liberties.

10 – Cooperation with UN

Pakistan claims that it is “working in close coordination with United Nations human rights mechanisms by actively engaging with them, especially the Human Rights Council (HRC), and its allied mechanisms and forums, including but not limited to Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures.”

But if one checks the reality, the UN database on Special Procedure Visits says only three Special Procedures have visited Pakistan. The last visits were in 2012 by the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges.

The mere Special Procedures Pakistan invited recently was those on Foreign Debt, Poverty, Education, and Disabilities. Recent visit requests from the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (2018), Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion (2018), Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls (2020), Special Rapporteur on Torture (2021), and Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings (2023) received no response from Pakistan.

On Monday, Pakistan will go before the UNHRC for a mandatory human rights review that all UN member states undergo every five years.

With inputs from unwatch.org

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