Staff Reporter
The Ministry of Human Rights hosted an event to celebrate its’ growth and achievements over the past two years with relevant stakeholders, including donors, civil society organizations, members of the diplomatic community, and media representatives. The event served as an opportunity to showcase important milestones and review progress towards the protection and promotion of human rights in Pakistan.
Federal Secretary for Human Rights, Rabiya Javeri Agha addressed the audience and spoke about the evolution of the Ministry of Human Rights, from a sub division of the Ministry of Law to a full-fledged Ministry with an expanding mandate. Ms. Javeri gave a presentation with a brief overview of critical developments of the Ministry of Human Rights in terms of strengthening legislation, institutional development, and progress in terms of awareness raising and advocacy for human rights in Pakistan. Most recently, this included the Reels for Rights Digital Film Festival which sought to raise awareness on a diverse array of human rights issues in Pakistan. Moreover, she highlighted the critical impact of strengthening treaty body reporting and implementation of human rights commitments in Pakistan. Notably, the Ministry of Human Rights successfully submitted 6 treaty body reports over the past 2 years.
Federal Minister for Human Rights, Shireen Mazari, thanked all partners of the Ministry of Human Rights for their integral support, including UN organizations, the EU in Pakistan, the support of parliamentarians and the Cabinet, emphasizing the importance of strengthening collaboration and partnerships towards the promotion of human rights in Pakistan. In her address, Minister Shireen Mazari spoke about how no country in the world was free of human rights violations, and the importance of strengthening bilateral relations, international commitments, and accountability to improve human rights across the world.
Minister Shireen Mazari also called upon the European Union to implement the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to intervene against the massive human rights violations by India in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. Over the past year, she has written letters to 27 UN Special Mandate holders and also highlighted the issue at the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Over the past two years, the Ministry of Human Rights has successfully enacted six laws and drafted seven legislations besides taking practical measure to implement the laws through monitoring, training, institutional development and sensitization.
