US human rights report termed inaccurate

 



  ISLAMABAD, March 5: The government on Tuesday rejected the US 
State Department Report on human rights as "factually inaccurate 
and unwarranted" adding that it reflected tendency of some 
states to sit in judgment on others.

  "The reports fails to acknowledge the important policy measures 
and initiatives by the government of Pakistan to promote and 
protect human rights," said a statement issued by Foreign Office 
spokesman in which the report was termed as factually inaccurate 
and unwarranted. It pointed out that all the goals set at an 
April 2000 human rights conference had been achieved, which it 
added had been ignored by the report.

  Enlisting these initiatives, it recalled that these include 
promulgation of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, the 
establishment of a permanent commission on the status of women, 
police and jail reforms, national policy and plan of action for 
elimination of child labour and establishment of a fund for 
rehabilitation of working children.

  The government, it added, has amended Pakistan Citizenship Act 
of 1951 to enable women of Pakistani descent to claim Pakistani 
nationality for their children born to foreign husbands. A mass 
awareness campaign was launched as part of the observance of the 
Year 2000 as the year of Human Rights and Human Dignity, it 
added.

  In addition, it said, Pakistan also ratified ILO Conventions 100 
on equal remuneration and 182 on the elimination of worst forms 
of child labour. It signed the Optional Protocols to Convention 
on the Rights of Child. Recently the system of joint electorates 
has been introduced respecting the wishes of the minority 
communities, it said. Despite these developments, the report 
states "the government's human rights record remained poor."

  "This is unacceptable and a gross misstatement of the facts. The 
government of Pakistan therefore, feels constrained to reject 
the assessment of the report about Pakistan, and the tendency of 
some states to sit in judgment over others."

  "The cause of human rights would be better served if all states, 
in a spirit of cooperation and understanding address the 
problems they face in promoting and protecting human rights," it 
said.



@ The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2002