State protection: Govt to appoint rights defenders at district level

Minister says a directorate is being set up to monitor the human rights situation

LAHORE: Provincial Minister for Human Rights and Minority Affairs Khalil Tahir Sandhu said on Thursday that the government would appoint public human rights defenders to improve the rights situation in all districts of the province.

Speaking at a seminar on human rights organised by the Asian Foundation, Sanjh Preet and REAT Network here, Sandhu said that a directorate was being set up to monitor the rights situation in the province. He said that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had formed an eight-member committee headed by Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan that would give recommendations for this purpose within two weeks. He said the rights situation would improve after establishment of public defender offices at the district level.

The minister said the provincial government had been working in collaboration with the civil society to protect minorities’ rights. He said that police officers would be given special training to change the ‘thana culture’. He said that college and school teachers would be imparted training in human rights. He said that more than 300 non-government organisations had been working in the Punjab in collaboration with the Human Rights Department. He said the Human Rights Department had been responsible for implementation of the UN conventions on human rights. He said the human rights situation could not be monitored at the grassroots level without the establishment of a directorate in the province. He said the provincial government would soon enact a human rights law and develop its own human rights policy. He said that private public defenders had played a role to improve the rights situation in Lahore, Khanewal, Faisalabad and Nankana Sahib.

Sanjh Pareet director Parvez Ahmad said the NGO had been working for protection of human rights at the union council level. Asian Foundation director Farmanullah said the NGO had been planning to work in partnership with the provincial government.

Human Rights Department Deputy Director Yousaf Khalil, Provincial Coordinator Khalil Ahmad, Commission for Human Rights director Pervez Akhtar and Sanjh Pareet director Qaisar Javed also attended the seminar.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2016.