Seeking basic human rights

We hope HRF's efforts to bring together and engage all factions of society will succeed.

Often, it appears that the international community pushes much harder for the basic human rights of Pakistanis than do our own people. Maybe this is because our people experience injustices daily and we are exhausted. However, every so often, we hear a news story mentioning the efforts of a small group, aiming to help Pakistan progress. Recently, in a positive story out of Islamabad, The Human Rights Fund (HRF) of the Asia Foundation was launched on November 6 to provide an outlet for vulnerable segments of society. The project, initiated with funding from the Netherlands Embassy, will focus on five key issues facing Pakistan: 1) freedom of speech and access to information, 2) freedom from torture and other rights related to prisoners, 3) stemming gender-based violence and discrimination, 4) rights of religious and ethnic minorities and 5) economic rights.

These topics pertain to basic human rights. Freedom of speech for all is a foundational democratic value. However, in Pakistan, civilians barely have freedom of thought because if they disclose their opinions, even if it’s the truth, they are forced to run for their lives. Politicians fear the public knowing the truth. Instead, they distract us with trivial day-to-day matters rather than providing us with real leadership and tackling the issues that are killing and causing heartache to the people.

We have long been maltreated. People are tortured, women face gender-based discrimination, minorities are brought up living in fear. For economic rights, laws on protection of employees from mistreatment or verbal and physical harassment are poorly implemented. Poor economic conditions have led to desperation and have forced employees to endure injustices in workplaces in order to feed their families, who are trying to survive on a day-to-day basis. We hope that the efforts of the HRF to bring together and engage all factions of society in working towards the major goal of improvement will succeed, so that our future generations can live in harmony.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2012.