Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
Established in 1986 and registered in 1987, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is the country’s apex independent human rights body. A non-political, not-for-profit organisation, HRCP is committed to realising the entire ambit of human rights—civil, political, economic, social, and cultural—for all citizens and persons present in the country. HRCP uses the framework provided by the fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution of Pakistan as well as international human rights instruments, to some of which Pakistan is a state party. (HRCP)
Interview Transcript
Interviewer (Wania): My first question to you is, what specific initiatives or projects is your organization currently working on to advocate for and protect student rights?
HRCP: the way we advocate for student rights or any human right actually is ongoing. Sure we have some targeted activities but because of Pakistan's political and social landscape, new events occur daily and in that sense the activities that we do involve continuous advocacy. For student rights, whenever the issue comes up politically or for example whenever there is a student solidarity march annually in November. We provide support there as well for the activists who are fighting for their rights. Basically, Hcrp also provides for a convening space meaning we provide a venue for students and student activists for them to meet and for them to collaborate. This is also a part of our advocacy in any that we support and empower young activists to take the lead and take the initiative. So we provide that space as well, a meeting space, a safe space for them to come together and collaborate and plan out their own missions and marches and many other activities. The workshops and meetings on different issues held here at HCRP always involve student and student activists as participants because we see them as equal stakeholders. The future of Pakistan is more or less in the hands of the younger generation so we see them as equal stakeholders and as stakeholders they have their own unique perspective skills we also ensure their participation
Interviewer (Wania): And how do you collaborate with educational institutions to address the issues?
HRCP: this is on a case-to-case basis for example the student union act in Sindh empowers student activists to form unions at their universities though it has not been implemented in spirit yet so HRCP has met different higher-level institutes' vice-chancellors and administrators and has talked to them about their rights and showed solidarity towards student rights. In terms of the actual issue of student rights and their main issue, primarily the formation of student unions is rather in the hands of lawmakers because we try and take this issue to lawmakers rather than to higher education institutions.
Interviewer (Wania): What are your organization's long-term goals and plans for advancing student rights?
HRCP: our long-term goal is basically to empower student rights activists with the tools they need to push their movement forward because HRCP does not want to overshadow any movement because the movement HRCP stands for is a human rights movement which is a broad term with many movements under it but that does not take away from who actually lead the movement on the ground. That applies to women rights activists, climate activists and lots more movements that are happening on the ground. So our long-term goal is to amplify their demands and empower them with the tools they need for their own advocacy for example we have workshops on constitutional rights or on digital and physical security and we invite activists on different movements and share this knowledge and tools with them so they are empowered including students and student right activist and walking about student rights activists is talking about those affiliated with higher educational institutions and not just secondary schools, For those students in secondary or middle schools we go to their schools and we create awareness about their fundamental rights and how in government girl colleges we had awareness sessions where we talked about HRCP’s mandate and human rights and gender-based violence to empower those female students. Our long-term goal is to highlight the activist movements' own demands and support them as much as we can.
Interviewer (Wania): As you mentioned there were awareness sessions in girl government colleges. Do you see the effect of that?
HRCP: uhm I mean the thing about working in human rights is that it's difficult to see effects happen immediately because it is a very long-term game. It's not about immediate impact, it's about cumulative impact where everything adds together over the years and over time. It's not like we can go and see how the girls have incorporated the knowledge on their own. On our behalf, we have given them awareness of human rights and gender-based violence and we hope that the impact is the same but this is a constant movement of sorts.
Interviewer (Wania): in what ways do you encourage students to be actively involved in advocating their own rights?
HRCP: Again in this way, we normally support the activists themselves, our own outreach is that we inform schools and universities about HRCP’s mission and about human rights issues. Student rights is a specific thing and you have to understand the whole background and then student unions and then harassment of girls at schools and tuition fee issues. The student rights domain is very specific. What we do is that we create awareness about students' fundamental rights and we empower student rights activists because they have their own movement and we don't want to overtake and overshadow that movement, we instead try to support that movement so its representation remains honest.
Interviewer (Wania): have you faced any challenges in collaborating with educational institutions in addressing student rights?
HRCP: We don't normally face challenges from educational institutions especially when it comes to awareness about human rights in general and about HRCP's mission, usually they are very receptive to it’ especially gender studies and women's studies departments and are very open to HRCP address their students so we haven't faced many challenges there but when it comes to student rights in particular, it's an ongoing effort to have educational institutions to be on board with student rights, especially student union rights.
Interviewer (Wania): and in this age of Digital Education how does your organization address issues related to online privacy and student data protection?
HRCP: So I mentioned that HRCP has workshops for human rights activists from different movements and different types of groups from civil society and many more. We have workshops hosted for them and just like that students from higher education institutions receive training for constitutional rights, fundamental rights, and digital and physical security for digital security we give them special training to maintain online privacy and to use digital tools safely to counter fake information, fake news online. We try to like to improve security online through that knowledge.
Interviewer (Wania): How does your organization ensure the rights of underrepresented groups of students?
HRCP: Basically, the kids we call to workshops are student activists who are underrepresented like Baloch, Pashtun, trans women, and different underrepresented groups. The meetings, and conferences our organization holds are related to religious minorities’ rights and women's rights. We call student activists to that too so that intersexuality is ensured, but we can't ensure the student rights movement because it's not ours; it's the activists. If you're talking about how we insure it in our advocacy, this is how we go about it.
Interviewer (Wania): Has your organization ever faced challenges in terms of budget and resources?
HRCP: HRCP is a non-profit and non-governmental organization, and to maintain that independence, our resources are somewhat limited compared to other organizations. The main challenges we face in terms of resources are in terms of time because HRCP’s mandate is not just student rights; it's about all human rights. Living in Pakistan, we know that human rights here in all aspects are affected every day, there are different human rights issues involved, and many vulnerable groups are affected. For us, the most difficult thing is deciding which issue we should devote our time to.
Interviewer (Wania): How can individuals or other organizations support your effort in overcoming these challenges?
HRCP: I think the biggest thing that any individual can do is they can join such human rights movements and show their support on the ground when the protests and marches are in practice or show support online and increase awareness about messages that they are trying to share and the demands that they have. This type of active advocacy is the best way to show support, and anyone can do it. That, and HRCP’s other main thing is that we research and document a lot, and any kind of contribution to that kind of research and documentation work is very helpful. But mostly it would be to show solidarity with the movements themselves and the demands that they have.
Interviewer (Wania): Before, we had interviewed many professors of universities, and according to them, political interference and violence of student unions resulted in their banning. According to you, what was the main reason for banning student unions?
HRCP: According to me, the main reason for the ban was to depoliticize students because student unions, if you look at history, student unions themselves were very instrumental in leading the way for democratic rights, especially when those democratic rights were threatened under a military dictatorship like Ayub Khan and Pervez Musharraf. At the forefront of that, the ones who used to mobilize and protest about democratic rights and the ones who wanted to protect democracy and the constitution were students because students were collectively organized and mobilized and aware of their own student rights. They knew that politics affects every area of their lives, and politically, what happens in the country or world affects everyone in the country. So what has happened is that student unions have been banned, and students have been depoliticized and aren't mobilized around their rights, and that's a huge blow to the democratic movement. Whenever democracy is under threat, student rights activists have been at the forefront to speak truth to power basically. I disagree with the professors you have interviewed that violence was the reason for the ban. My own evaluation is that it was to depoliticize students to maintain certain power structures in Pakistan, and those who were actually violent weren't student unions but were extreme right-wing political parties.
Interviewer (Wania): And can you comment on basic student rights apart from educational rights?
HRCP: The thing is that students are equal stakeholders in education and deserve to have affordable education. One of the main demands of student rights activists right now is that their education has gone through exponential tuition fee increases, and that education be affordable. Another one is that when harassment cases are reported involving students, representatives of student unions should be involved to ensure impartiality in the decision-making. Also, student unions, being equal stakeholders in their own education, deserve a platform in every kind of decision that will affect students and their futures. I would say that the affordability of education and safe education because students deserve to have an education free of harassment issues, not just against women but also against student activists themselves. So, for these reasons, student rights are that they have fundamental rights and an equal say in their education.
Interviewer (Wania): And as per your experience in the past few years, what do you think, that the private sectors get more educational rights or the public sector?
HRCP: At least in terms of the ban on student unions, it's on both private and public sectors. Also, in terms of harassment, that too is in both sectors. So, I don't think I can make generalized comments. Issues are in both sectors, though they may be presented differently and may have their own unique challenges, but these issues exist across the board.
Interviewer (Wania): How do you think the absence of student unions impacts the future of these students?
HRCP: The absence of student unions means students are charged higher tuition fees every year by universities that aren't held accountable, and that impacts their future and economic rights. The absence of student unions also means that when there are cases against students, harassment, or when they are abducted, or any situation portraying students, they don't have an equal voice in matters of decision-making or aren't involved in decision-making at all. And if there were student unions, that wouldn't be the case.
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