Pakistan: Critical Position As Rights Violations Increase

Pakistan’s status as an Islamic democracy also means that the legal system is made up of a mixture of both Islamic, and secular colonial laws which means that the interpretation of whether human rights violations are occurring is often on a case-to-case basis. Most observers and citizens generally agree that Pakistan’s legal code and system is largely concerned with crime and national security, and less with the protection of individual or community rights. As a result a multitude of human rights violations occur with frightening regularity in Pakistan, ranging from the trampling of rights related to free speech and assembly, sectarian and religious intolerance, discrimination against minorities, illegal detention and enforced disappearances. (Human Rights Commission Pakistan, 2013.

Extract from The Citizens Archive Pakistan: A Case Study on Human Rights Education:

Following the workshops, the students were asked to fill out feedback forms that asked questions to assess how they felt about key issues in light of the universal definition of human rights. 90 percent of the respondents believed that human rights violations were common in Pakistan, while a whopping 98 percent said that they believed that human rights awareness could promote peace and stability in the country. There was also a meaningful discussion in the module on whether democratic governments or military regimes had better human rights records.

As a result, 14 percent of the students said that human rights were granted only in military-governed countries but 78 percent of the students opposed that belief. 60 percent of the participants maintained that democratic states were more likely to endorse and preserve human rights. When asked who they felt was responsible for ensuring human rights in the country, 56 percent of the students noted it was the responsibility of the government, 16 percent said society, 6 percent said religion, and 4 percent said rights need to and should be demanded. In response to the subjective questions, the students gave varied answers.

When asked about the purpose of human rights, 38 percent believed the purposes was to provide justice for all citizens of the world, 14 percent said to provide security, 13 percent thought it was to provide equal opportunities for all, whereas 4 percent said to ensure peace of mind for all.

Perhaps the most encouraging statistic from the survey was that 93 percent of students recognized that the existence of human rights could promote peace and prosperity whereas their absence would lead to an unhappy disenfranchised population. This change signaled that the students had gained a greater understanding of the value of a society that respects individual rights through the content presented by the workshops. 

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