The Ministry of Human Rights (, abbreviated as MoHR) is a federal

government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. The ministry is headed by Khalil Francis, the Minister for Human Rights, while A.D Khowaja serves as the

Federal Secretary The Federal Secretary (also referred to as the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan) is the highest-ranking position in the Government of Pakistan, occupied by the most senior civil servant in a specific ministry or division. The secretary is t ...

. The historically contentious issue of

human rights in Pakistan The situation of human rights in Pakistan () is complex as a result of the country's diversity, large population, its status as a developing country and a sovereign Islamic democracy with a mixture of both Islamic and secular law. Overview T ...

received an added emphasis from the highest leadership of Pakistan when the ministry was chipped out of the Ministry of Law and Justice on November 3, 2008.

Recreation of ministry set up originally in 1995

Originally the ministry was created by Prime Minister

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...

in 1995/96, but with the dissolution of her government the ministry was downsized. At that time the ministry was set up as a department within the justice ministry. It had then 125 employees and four regional offices. Then, with a limited budget, the ministry worked on a case-by-case basis only seeking help from donor agencies to expand its activity. A

prison reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, reduce recidivism or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are ...

program was instituted in 2000 and also a "fund for women in distress and detention" and a "relief and revolving fund" for victims of human rights violations were set up. According to an assessment by the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

the ministry was however not perceived as effective by human rights observers which noted specifically that the Pakistani government had failed to take follow-up action on the 1997 report of the Commission of Inquiry for Women.

2008 Ministry led by Mumtaz Alam Gillani

The government had approved the draft bill for the establishment an independent National Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (not to be confounded with the already existing NGO

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP; ) is an independent, democratic non-profit organisation. Founded in 1987, it is one of the oldest human rights organisations in the country. HRCP is committed to monitoring, protecting and prom ...

). Shortly after his appointment minister Alam Gillani had also announced that a task force consisting of journalists, civil society activists and social workers would be formed on district and divisional levels to address human rights violations cases and also that separate courts for human rights would also be established at district levels. Furthermore, the ministry had announced that it is preparing a new law which will form the basis for work to shed light in the fate of potentially thousands of citizens who have gone missing, and according to human rights activists, may have been taken away by security and intelligence services during Pakistan's seven-year War on Terror.

References

External links

Ministry of Human Rights
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Human rights in Pakistan Pakistan, Human Rights

Human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

Recreation of ministry set up originally in 1995

2008 Ministry led by Mumtaz Alam Gillani

See also

References

External links