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 information from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s helpline. Some chose not to vote. The polling staff’s work was hampered, especially when trying to upload poll results. Observers found it difficult to share their reports in time.

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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 principle of equal citizenship is com- promised in so many ways. It begins with the disenfranchisement of marginalised groups through the non-issuance of national identity cards, leading to an even wider gender gap for women and transgender persons, and continuing with the effective non-representation of minorities in all the electoral schemes devised for them so far. The whole system is further rigged in favour of the elite who, when elected, seem interested in amassing more wealth than in addressing the problems of their constituents.

Certain legalities related to the caretaker governments, independent candidates joining po- litical parties soon after being elected in their independent capacity, discriminatory constitu- tional clauses like Articles 62 and 63, and other provisions have also seriously affected the fairness of elections.

Add to these certain technological developments, such as internet voting for overseas Pak- istanis and the use of electronic voting machines, that have served more as controversies for political gains than subjects of serious research made available to the general public.

Like everywhere else, electoral reforms in Pakistan are a work in progress. At this crucial juncture in our political history, HRCP would like to initiate a dialogue on reforms through a comprehensive discussion paper, which is by no means the final word on the matter but an invitation to chart a path forward. We have been fortunate to be assisted in this task by one of the most credible researchers on the subject, senior political analyst Tahir Mehdi. It is our hope that this paper is carefully considered by all stakeholders in the spirit that it has been prepared, and leads to decisions to achieve free and fair elections that upholds the ideal of equal citizenship as enshrined in the Constitution.

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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 in climate justice—the concept that climate change is an ethical, legal and political issue rather than solely environmental.3 The disproportionately adverse effects of climate change on the fundamental rights of the most vulnerable communities in Pakistan must be acknowledged and the state’s responsibility to these communities fulfilled by building a more resilient system of governance that puts climate science first.

This study examines the impact of the floods from three perspectives: the right to health, the right to shelter and the right to livelihood. It also analyses the policies and (in)action that have led to Pakistan bearing the brunt of the impact of climate change despite contributing less to global emissions than other countries.4 It draws on expert analysis from a high-profile roundtable held by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in December 2022. The study is complemented by case studies of flood-affected persons and relief workers from different parts of Pakistan who were interviewed by six teams of human rights workers and journalists during a series of fact-finding missions conducted in September 2022.

While Pakistan has every right to demand climate reparations, it must also look within and articulate a strategy to ensure that its most vulnerable groups receive climate justice, and to secure all people’s rights to shelter, health and livelihood amid the climate crisis. Both state and society must recognise that the climate crisis is not a comfortably distant prospect—it is happening here and it is happening now.

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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 various particularistic struggles or social movements into a unified mass movement. Yet in the last ten years, and more particularly since the last five years, there is a conscious effort to link various social movements. This new effort features mobilisations by a new generation of tech-savvy, college-educated, and globally oriented activists. In linking struggles of peripheral actors and spaces to those in the centre, the demands or grievances raised in these mobilisations have encompassed a range of issues concerning, on the one hand, global capitalism and Pakistan’s peripheral position in it (the anti-austerity aspect), and the country’s neo-colonial political system (the anti-authoritarian aspect), on the other.

To assess this contentious politics manifested in the form of social movements and its relationship to the democratisation process, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan conducted a series of focus group discussions (FGDs) with activists and organisers of various ongoing struggles and with public intellectuals closely observing them. In all, there were eight FGDs (held between October and November 2021), seven of which were held online which allowed participation across Pakistan. The broad themes were the students’ solidarity movement, the women’s rights movement, enforced disappearances, victims of urban development, Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, public sector workers’ collectives and role of social media in social movements. This report is a synthesis of major issues that emerged in these FGDs. The following sections discuss: (i) the political-economic and cultural context for the various social movements; (ii) women’s activism; (iii) students’ politics; (iv) anti-war and antiauthoritarian activism; (v) right to the city struggles; and (vi) anti-austerity activism of public-sector workforce. Subsequently, the report concludes with key lessons offered for rights activism.

The post Mapping Social Movements in Pakistan appeared first on Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

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 domestic law related to freedom of peaceful assembly in consonance with international standards and best practices.

This catalogue contains the winning entries of a photo-essay competition instituted by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in 2021 to create greater awareness of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.

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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 healthcare
system. 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 within the confines of a prison are not motivated to work due to stressful working conditions and long hours. As a result, prisoner’s basic rights to health, safety and dignity suffer.

In recent years, various studies have focused on prisoners’ access to healthcare, especially in the wake of Covid-19. While the virus is thankfully losing its sting, these studies have highlighted many problems that afflict the prison healthcare system and placed them in the public domain.

The post The Ailing Prisoner appeared first on Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

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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 existing
constitutional 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 briefly
for 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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“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.”

Section 1.10.32 of “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum”, written by Cicero in 45 BC

“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?”

1914 translation by H. Rackham

“But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?”

Section 1.10.33 of “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum”, written by Cicero in 45 BC

“At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat.”

1914 translation by H. Rackham

“On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.”

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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 become vulnerable to silicosis, a terminal lung disease (Box 1).

Given that an estimated 0.5 million people are directly employed by this industry in Pakistan, establishing the prevalence of silicosis and examining what OSH mechanisms are in place to prevent it, if any, is a key labour rights concern.

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