Thematic reports Archives - Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

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Making Elections Credible

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A Tainted Election Pakistan at the polls

The 8 February 2024 general elections have concluded relatively peacefully, with a reasonable voter turnout of 47 percent. An estimated 60 million people have exercised their right to vote for 265 National Assembly and 590 provincial assembly constituencies. In a positive sign, this election has brought to office 12 women—the highest ever number elected to general seats. However, the perception of having held a smooth, orderly election is as important as making it appear to be a credible exercise. Sadly, elections in this country have suffered from a consistent crisis of integrity. The 2024 election too was preceded by a long period of political turmoil and polarization, punctuated by violence perpetrated by militants, raising doubts as to the certainty and fairness of the polls, alongside hopes that they would usher in sorely needed political and economic stability. Soon after polling began on 8 February, people realized that an internet and cellular services shutdown had occurred across the country; it remained in place until the following morning. This affected not only the polling process, but also how it was reported by the media. With last-minute changes in voters’ polling stations in many cases, people found it difficult to obtain the necessary

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Making Elections Credible

Elections in Pakistan are a contested subject, with the losing side invariably questioning the election’s outcome. The role of undemocratic forces in manipulating the election results has now been established beyond a doubt, putting the integrity of the whole exercise under question. Since elections play a vital role in the strengthening of democracy by letting the people express their will through their votes, this lack of credibility has had serious conse- quences for the country’s political stability. It would not be incorrect to say that unelected forces in Pakistan consider the electoral sys- tem as a mere tool to fulfill the claims of procedural democracy, which effectively does little to change the balance of power in favour of elected people. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has remained committed to the ideals of constitutionalism, democratic governance and the rule of law for decades. Electoral reforms to bring about free and fair elections are hence crucial in fulfilling these ideals. While ac- knowledging that elections everywhere are in need of constant reform, HRCP feels it impera- tive to address serious gaps in Pakistan’s electoral system, not only with regards to the obvious credibility crisis but also pertaining to how the

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A Clarion Call for Climate Justice

The impact of the 2022 floods in Pakistan cannot be understated. According to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), a total of 1,739 lives were lost, 12,867 people were injured and over 33 million people were affected. With a third of the country submerged under water, citizens in 90 districts hit by the calamity were left homeless. Over 1.7 million houses were destroyed by torrential rains, glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) and the flooding of the Indus River and its tributaries. The havoc wreaked by these floods have also laid bare the socioeconomic fault lines in Pakistan, exacerbating the effects of runaway inflation, an energy crisis and massive food insecurity. These factors, combined with recurring climate emergencies, such as heatwaves, smog and droughts on an already struggling population, leave little room for relief and rehabilitation. This situation underscores just how integral environmental rights are to the realisation of fundamental human rights, such as the rights to life, health, food, water and sanitation. Without a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, people (particularly vulnerable groups) cannot live at a level commensurate with the minimum standards of human dignity. This is why a new social contract must be envisioned, one rooted

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Mapping Social Movements in Pakistan

The twenty-first century ushered in a new era in social movements globally, with anti-authoritarian and anti-austerity movements like the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street taking centre-stage. The rise of new media technologies helped these movements to mobilise in the online realm when they met with on-ground opposition, and garner support on an international level. Yet, in Pakistan—a country with a turbulent relationship with freedom of expression and movement, where resistance has historically been stifled, and surveillance has been the norm—the rise of large-scale social movements has been slow, albeit steady. The first decade of the twenty-first century featured multiple forms of contentious politics: (i) the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of the judiciary which culminated in a broad political movement against Pervez Musharraf’s military dictatorship; (ii) the nation-wide campaigns against privatisation of public utilities (Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited); (iii) the region- and city-specific peasant and labour mobilisations for agrarian land rights and improved wages; (iv) the struggles of public-sector employees for better service structures, and (v) the ethno-nationalist uprisings in peripheral regions away from central Punjab districts. By and large, these social movements took place in isolation, without a broadbased network among activists and mobilisers which could synthesise the

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A BID FOR CHANGE

The right to freedom of peaceful assembly allows a democratic society to function smoothly by giving every citizen the chance to express their beliefs, convey their grievances and pursue change collectively. This right also facilitates a participatory form of government and is simultaneously dependent on other rights, such as the right to freedom of expression, movement and association. People’s freedom to assemble peacefully is enshrined in Article 16 of Pakistan’s constitution as follows: Every citizen shall have the right to assemble peacefully and without arms, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of public order. This right is also preserved by international law, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of which Pakistan is one of the founding signatories. The UDHR, together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), form the ‘International Bill of Human Rights’ and together enumerate a series of rights, including the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, that call upon state parties to protect, respect and fulfil these rights. Pakistan ratified the ICESCR in 2008 and the ICCPR in 2010, hence undertaking an obligation to bring

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The Ailing Prisoner

In a country where the health sector in general has not been a priority of successive governments, healthcare for prisoners has fared worse. The prison service in Pakistan is arguably one of the most neglected public sectors. Our criminal justice system, parts of which still exist as ossified remnants of colonial times, imagines prisons asplaces that redress crimes against society at best and not as places that rehabilitate inmates into productive citizens, least of all heal them of the negative impact of committing crime. On top of that, many of Pakistan’s central and district jails are overcrowded, with a significant majority of prisoners being under trial, while their medical facilities are inadequate. There is a constant influx of individuals who are addicted to drugs with precarious health conditions which further burdens the fragile prison healthcaresystem. Former inmates also report abuses of human rights in prisons as, barring some exceptions, the manner in which custodial staff members deal with captive populations across Pakistan is bereft of compassion. Corruption among the prison staff and impunity for their conduct impacts the grant of health facilities; bribery can buy certain privileges while the poor prisoners are deprived of their rightful share. Moreover, the doctors

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LEGISLATION WATCH CELL

Custodial torture is endemic in Pakistan’s criminal justice system and commonly perceived as an unofficially sanctioned component of investigation. It is used routinely to extract evidence—despite this being prohibited under Article 14(2) of the Constitution—and as an alternative means of punishing individuals in custody. In Pakistan, public officials, including law enforcement agencies and security forces, are known to employ torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment against people in their custody, regardless of the victim’s age, gender or health.

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Constitutional Cover for Local Governments

Citizens consume governance directly at the local level; local governments serve as agencies responsible for delivering vital services. However, despite citizens’ repeated demands and over a dozen court verdicts,1 localgovernments in Pakistan have remained, at worst, non-existent, at best, patchy, invariably denied adequate resources through the Provincial Finance Commissions. Irrespective of which political party has been inpower, provincial governments have remained reluctant to empower local tiers of government, often perceiving them unnecessarily as rivals for financial resources and political power. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has long recognised that effective, representative and well-resourced local governments are an important measure of the health of a democracy. Drawing on existingconstitutional provisions and international best practices, this policy paper attempts to provide a context for HRCP’s advocacy as well as proposing amendments to Article 140-A of the Constitution, which provides brieflyfor local governments as a responsibility of the provinces, but goes no further in terms of what local governments are responsible for and how their scope of responsibilities should be safeguarded—a criticism levied by many political experts.

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Abolition of bonded labour in Pakistan

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Fighting to breathe

A key area of the decent work deficit in Pakistan is poor occupational safety and health (OSH), which applies to both the formal and informal sectors. Most enterprises in the formal sector are not aware of OSH risks and hazards, nor are they inclined to view these with much sense of urgency. According to reports from the International Labour Organization (ILO), 2.2 million people die every year globally due to work-related accidents or illness, more than 270 million workers are injured and an estimated 160 million suffer work-related illness. In Pakistan, despite the Factories Act 1934 (last amended in 2012), the Hazardous Occupations Rules 1963 and subsequent provincially derived legislation following the devolution of labour to the provinces after the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, there is no independent legislation protecting OSH. Poor implementation of the laws that do exist, weak unionisation and inadequate—even absent—labour inspection mechanisms mean that Pakistan’s OSH standards fall painfully short of internationally accepted benchmarks. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the stone-crushing industry in Punjab, where thousands of workers—lacking protective equipment— inhale crystalline silica dust during industrial processes such as the manufacture of acid-lining mixtures for the metal industry. In the long term, they

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