Khar briefs UN Working Group on human rights situation in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday briefed a two-member team of the ‘UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances' (WGEID) on the steps taken by the government for the promotion and protection of human rights in the country.
The delegation, comprising Olivier de Frouville, the Chair-Rapporteur, and Osman El Hajjé, member, was being accompanied by members of the secretariat of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Khar said that the elected government takes the issue of disappearances very seriously and is making all efforts to strengthen the domestic mechanisms to address this humanitarian issue and ensure rule of law in the country.
She also said that an independent judiciary, free media and vibrant civil society were in the vanguard of national efforts to address the issue.
The foreign minister hoped that the Working Group would reflect in its report the commitment of the Government and efforts of the independent judiciary, free media and civil society for the protection of human rights in Pakistan.
The members of the Working Group thanked the foreign minister for receiving them and appreciated the government's commitment for the promotion and protection of human rights.
The Chair-Rapporteur said that the Working Group's mandate was to act as a bridge between the families of the missing persons and the concerned governments. The Working Group was neither an investigative nor fact finding mission.
He assured that the Working Group would clarify any mis-perceptions during its end-of-the-visit interaction with the media on September 20.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had conveyed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had expressed his inability to receive the UN Working Group visiting the country presently on enforced missing persons.
While several legislators have objected to the visit of the UN mission, the Chief of Jamhuri Watan Party, Nawabzada Talal Bugti, has welcomed it.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mr Talal Bugti said the mission’s visit had generated hope among the families of missing persons.
He hoped the mission would come to Bugti House in Quetta during its scheduled visit on September 15, during which families of missing persons anxiously waiting for it would submit fresh information leading to recovery of missing persons.
The Working Group arrived Pakistan on Sunday at the invitation of the government of Pakistan and its mandate is to collect data about the ‘missing’ persons.
During its 10-day mission undertaken at the invitation of the government, the UN WGEID will study the measures adopted by Pakistan to prevent and eradicate enforced disappearances and issues related to truth, justice and reparation for the victims.
The working group was set up by the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1980 to assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of disappeared relatives. It endeavours to establish a channel of communication between the families and the governments concerned, to ensure that individual cases are investigated, with the objective of clarifying the whereabouts of persons who, having disappeared, are placed outside the protection of law. A final report on the mission will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next year.