NA panel approves rights commission

Pakistan will become one of 55 countries with such a commission.

ISLAMABAD:

A National Assembly panel unanimously passed on Thursday the final draft of the National Commission for Human Rights Bill of 2008.

The bill will now be submitted by the National Assembly standing committee on human rights before the lower house of parliament for approval.

If approved, Pakistan will become one of 55 countries in the world where such a commission is working with a mandate to intervene in any human rights violation pending before a court.

The commission will authorise the chairperson to, “review laws, including laws of terrorism which inhibit … human rights and to recommend appropriate remedial measures.”

It would review any law for the time being in force for the protection of human rights, besides recommending the adoption of a new legislation.

If the bill were to be approved by both houses of Parliament, “no suit, prosecution or legal proceedings shall lie against the commission or its office-bearers in respect of anything in good faith or under the authority of federal or provincial government”.

The draft was introduced on December 17, 2008.

The commission’s chairperson “shall be a person qualified to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court or a high court”.

The commission will have one member each from every province, Fata, Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad Capital Territory and two members from minority communities, with at least three women on board.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2011.