ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Tuesday rejected comments made by Israel about Pakistan’s human rights record, during a meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva this week.

Pointing to Israel’s history of oppressing Palesti­nians, Foreign Office Spo­k­esperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said: “Pakistan can certainly do without its advice on protecting human rights.”

She was responding to media queries about the una­nimous adoption of Pak­istan’s Universal Peri­odic Report by the UN Human Rights Council on July 10 during a meeting where Pakistan was represented by Ambassador Khalil Hashmi, the country’s permanent representative to the UN.

The spokesperson noted that “several states and civil society organisations commended Pakistan on the progress achieved in promoting human rights”, and hit out at the comments made by Adi Farjon from Israel.

“Israel’s politically motivated statement is fundamentally at variance with the otherwise positive tone of the session and the statements made by a vast majority of states,” the spokesperson observed.

The report on human rights in Pakistan was presented at the 53rd session of the UNHCR held in Geneva on Monday, and was discussed by many member countries, including Israel.

A total of 340 recommendations regarding Pakistan were presented in the meeting, of which Pakistan expressed its support to 253, while only 87 were noted, including recommendations from Israel.

“Israel is deeply concerned about the overall human rights situation in Pakistan, where enforced disappearances, violence, crackdowns on peaceful protests, violence against religious minorities and other marginalised groups continue,” Israel’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ms Farjon, said in the meeting. It was the fourth review and the council noted that Pakistan made remarkable progress compared to its third review.

Pakistan’s review

A press statement released by the UN’s media wing said that Pakistan’s human rights profile remained on an “upward trajectory” through the four cycles of the Universal Periodic Review — a process by which states review the human rights record of their peers on the same terms. The final report of the UPR is made after information is provided by the state, human rights bodies and other stakeholders such as NGOs.

The UN media statement said the fourth review afforded an opportunity to showcase the progress being made and also the challenges faced in Pak­istan’s quest to advance rights, freedoms, dignity and better standards for everyone in the country.

It noted that in the past months, the 340 recommendations received were “thoroughly examined by a multi-stakeholder consultative process”. Around 70 per cent of the 340 recommendations, which totalled 253, were accepted, whereas Pakistan noted 84 recommendations and rejected three “politically motivated assertions”.

“This acceptance rate marked a significant increase compared with the third Universal Periodic Review, when around 50 per cent of the recommendations were accepted,” the statement added, noting that Pakistan paid particular attention to the rights of women and children, as well as education and health, among others.

“Pakistan has consistently demonstrated its strong political will to promote and protect all human rights of everyone,” the council said in its concluding remarks about Pakistan.

It was noted that Pakistan had made good efforts to achieve sustainable development goals and had taken serious steps to fight the effects of climate change in the country. However, concern was expressed over Pakistan’s tightening of blasphemy laws this year and some speakers called for them to be repealed.

It also said concern was expressed over enforced disappearances and crackdowns against peaceful political protests. The need to prevent arbitrary arrests, torture and ill-treatment and end to the widespread use of death penalty was also stressed.

Atika Rehman in London also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2023