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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2008
ALRC-COS-08-011-2008
An Oral Statement to the 8th Session of the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)
Item 4. General Debate
Check Against Delivery
ASIA: The failure to promote and protect human rights in Pakistan and Bangladesh
Thank you Mr. President,
Following the elections in Pakistan there has been hope that the situation of human rights in the country could be changing for the better. It appears that after only two months in power, however, this government is already failing in this regard.
The government has already clearly failed to live up to its key election promise to reinstate the deposed Chief Justice and other judges within 30 days. Instead, a diluted constitutional package has been introduced, making vague claims that after certain amendments have been made, the deposed judiciary will be restored. It is feared that this process will take many months, if it concludes at all, and that Chief Justice Iftekhar Choudry may be sidelined during the process.
While the ALRC welcomes the ratification of the ICESCR and signing of the ICCPR and CAT on April 17, 2008, it is difficult to see how any human rights will be realised without a functioning, independent judiciary in place. The ALRC recalls that many in this Council condemned the ouster of the increasingly independent judiciary by the then-Musharraf government last year. The Council must continue to be vigilant and act concerning this fundamental crisis.
Pakistan’s record in terms of insecurity, the prevalence of arbitrary arrests and detentions, the widespread use of torture, and the thousands of cases of forced disappearance and extra-judicial killings in the country since 2001, make it one of Asia’s worst violators of human rights. Without an independent judiciary, this will remain the case.
While Pakistan has at least had some attention from this Council in the past, the same cannot be said of Bangladesh, where the protection of human rights has been rendered near-impossible since the introduction of a State of Emergency on January 11, 2007. Under this, fundamental rights have been suspended, including the freedom of the press, and widespread militarisation and subordination of the institutions of the rule of law, including the judiciary, threaten to obstruct the enjoyment of the entire gamut of human rights for generations.
NGO reports indicate that over 300,000 Bangladeshis have been arbitrarily arrested and detained since the beginning of the Emergency. While exact figures are difficult to ascertain, the order of magnitude of this problem speaks for itself. Since May 28, for example, over 15,000 have reportedly been arrested, in the most recent and ongoing wave of such abuses.
The ALRC calls on the Human Rights Council to demonstrate its non-selectivity and intervene with the Bangladeshi authorities to urge them to immediately lift the State of Emergency, to repeal all laws made in relation to it, and to halt the aforementioned gross violations abuses.
Webcast video: rtsp://webcast.un.org/ondemand/conferences/unhrc/eighth/hrc080606pm3-eng.rm?start=01:10:06&end=01:13:01
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About ALRC: The Asian Legal Resource Centre is an independent regional non-governmental organisation holding general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It is the sister organisation of the Asian Human Rights Commission. The Hong Kong-based group seeks to strengthen and encourage positive action on legal and human rights issues at local and national levels throughout Asia.
Posted on 2008-06-06
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