Shafique Chaudhry
PAKISTAN’S export economy remains heavily dependent on the European Union’s GSP+ scheme, arguably the country’s most valuable trade concession. Yet as domestic politics consume government attention, the governance and human-rights obligations underpinning GSP+ have been neglected. With the EU’s next monitoring cycle approaching, this drift threatens a facility that supports nearly a third of Pakistan’s exports.
Under GSP+, Pakistan enjoys duty-free access to 66% of EU tariff lines, fuelling an 83% rise in exports since 2014, reaching €8 billion in 2022. No other trading partner offers comparable market access. But the arrangement is conditional: beneficiaries must implement 27 UN and ILO conventions covering human rights, labour rights, environmental protection and governance.
Here, Pakistan’s weaknesses have become evident. Legislative achievements—the Torture and Custodial Death Act 2022, Protection of Journalists Act 2021 and Anti-Rape Act 2021—have not translated into consistent enforcement. The EU’s 2023 report highlighted unresolved enforced disappearances, misuse of blasphemy laws, shrinking civic space and bureaucratic constraints on bodies such as the NCHR and NCRC. Outgoing EU Ambassador Riina Kionka described the situation as a “clear degradation” of the rights environment, stress-ing the need for “visible progress.” For Brussels, legislation alone is insufficient; enforcement, institutional independence and measurable outcomes are now expected.
Labour rights form another weak pillar. Only 4% of Pakistan’s workforce is unionized, child labour persists in informal sectors and some provincial surveys report rates above 10%. Gender wage gaps remain among the highest in South Asia. Labour inspectorates are under-resourced and data collection has weakened since devolution under the 18th Amendment. Although Pakistan has ratified all ILO core conventions, workplace protections remain largely unimplemented. The EU’s assessment is blunt: legal progress has not improved conditions on the ground. These gaps are structural, rooted in governance fragmentation. Frequent political transitions, caretaker governments and shifting power centres disrupt reform continuity.
Yet the EU acknowledges areas of achievement. Environmental governance has seen notable improvement: updated climate commitments, hazardous-waste policies and expanded protected areas demonstrate tangible policy movement. Pakistan’s diplomacy after the 2022 floods, including COP27 engagement and the Geneva pledging conference, mobilized nearly €1 billion in EU relief and development support. This indicates that when political direction aligns with administrative capacity, Pakistan can deliver results. The next decade of GSP+ will be more demanding. The 2024–2034 regulation adds disability rights and additional child-rights instruments to the required conventions. It also allows the European Commission to suspend benefits swiftly in cases of systemic human-rights violations, bypassing lengthy political procedures. All countries must reapply by 2027 with de-tailed, verifiable action plans.
This comes at a time when Pakistan faces fiscal stress, coalition negotiations and external policy distractions—all risking further dilution of bureaucratic focus. Yet the economic stakes are high. Losing or weakening GSP+ would worsen the current account deficit, undermine export competitiveness, erode investor confidence and threaten hundreds of thou-sands of industrial jobs. No alternative market can absorb such a sudden loss of preferential access.
As the EU prepares for its next monitoring mission, Pakistan must show credible improvements in human rights, labour protections and institutional governance. These are not peripheral concerns—they determine whether Pakistan retains a facility that anchors its manufacturing base and stabilizes foreign exchange. For a country whose economic lifeline runs through European markets, credible governance and rights-based reforms are foundational to economic survival. The coming year offers a critical opportunity to translate legislative ambition into sustained implementation and safeguard a decade of GSP+ benefits.
—The writer is Executive Director, Parliamentarians Commission for Human Rights (PCHR), Islamabad.
