Rights activists urged the European Union to analyze widespread human rights violations in Pakistan, including persecution of non secular minorities, ahead of a review starting Monday by a key EU mission monitoring the country’s eligibility for preferential trade terms.
The EU mission will conduct a periodic assessment of Pakistan’s implementation of 27 U.N. conventions tied to GSP+, which lowers or eliminates duties on awarded countries’ exports to the EU in exchange for them pursuing “sustainable development and good governance.”
Governments with this status must implement 27 international conventions on human rights, labor rights, good governance and the environment. Pakistan has benefited from GSP+ status since 2014, contributing to a 108 percent rise in textile exports to the EU attributable to lower or zero duties.
The EU mission has meetings planned with government institutions, civil society, human rights groups, staff and the private sector. The review mission was originally planned for June but was postponed attributable to the Iran-Israel conflict.
“The Pakistan government has completely failed to meet its constitutional responsibilities to guard the elemental rights of Pakistani people guaranteed within the Constitution of Pakistan and guarded by international conventions and protocols,” said Minorities Alliance Pakistan (MAP) Chairman Akmal Bhatti.
An attorney of the high courts, Bhatti said that religious minorities, especially Christians, proceed to suffer from religious discrimination and institutional hatred in Pakistan.
“The blasphemy law continues to be misused, and the important perpetrators of the false allegations are working in connivance with state institutions,” Bhatti told Christian Daily International. “Glaring evidence of this evil nexus was exposed throughout the proceedings held within the Islamabad High Court by Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq. The judge directed the federal government to form a judicial commission for a good and transparent investigation, but the decision was suspended by an appellate bench of the high court. It is the prime duty of the federal government to probe these cases and the international community must monitor its progress.”
The socio-political leader also criticized the federal government for inaction against those involved within the August 2023 attack on multiple churches and houses of Christians in Jaranwala town, Faisalabad Division of Punjab Province.
“Though the federal government has now imposed a ban on the extremist Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan [TLP] and launched a crackdown against its cadres, it didn’t arrest the TLP leaders who led the violent attacks against Christians in Jaranwala, including the group’s local chief who was nominated in not less than two cases related to the incident,” he added.
Similarly, the Punjab Province government has didn’t pass a law that criminalizes child marriages despite its submission within the assembly in April 2024, he said.
“We have been demanding a law criminalizing forced faith conversions in addition to raising the legal age of marriage for each girls and boys to 18 years as a deterrent against false conversions, however the Punjab government is sitting on the problem for reasons not known to the general public,” he said. “The EU mission must query the federal government leaders in regards to the draft bill’s status when it meets them.”
Among other issues, the EU mission must also consider religious minorities’ demand of granting them their constitutional right to elect their very own representatives, he said.
“We have also been demanding the removal of the constitutional bar on non-Muslims from being elected as president and prime minister of the country,” he said. “If all residents are equal within the eyes of the structure and the law, then this restriction on non-Muslims must end.”
Pakistan Masiha Millat Party Chairman Aslam Pervaiz Sahotra echoed Bhatti’s concerns over the situation of minorities in Pakistan.
“There has been no improvement in Pakistan’s human rights situation, actually it has only worsened through the years,” Sahotra told Christian Daily International.
He denied government claims that conditions for minorities have improved.
“Continuing to increase trade advantages despite ongoing rights violations sends a dangerous message that economic interests outweigh human rights,” Sahotra said. “The EU must make sure that its trade policies uphold its core values of accountability, rule of law and justice for Pakistan’s persecuted minorities.”
In an interview with a Dawn News this week, EU Ambassador to Pakistan Raimundas Karoblis said that Pakistan must reinforce progress on its international commitments to stay eligible for the GSP+ preferential trade scheme.
He said the EU review mission will examine Pakistan’s compliance in areas including human rights, minority protections, the death penalty, blasphemy laws, enforced disappearances, women’s rights, child labor and compelled labor.
On enforced disappearances, the ambassador said the problem remained a priority concern for the EU. He acknowledged the establishment of a commission to look at such cases but noted that the mission would assess whether existing mechanisms were adequate.
Pakistan’s GSP+ status was prolonged in October 2023 until 2027, but the following monitoring cycle is predicted to influence Pakistan’s reapplication under the brand new scheme that may take effect in 2027. In exchange for implementing the 27 conventions, Pakistan has enjoyed duty-free or minimum duty on exports to the European Union on apparel, home textiles and surgical instruments, amongst other items, in keeping with a 2022 report by the commerce ministry.
Earnings on exports to the EU rose to $3.17 billion in July-October, up from $3 billion over the corresponding months of last yr, in keeping with figures by the State Bank of Pakistan released on Monday (Nov. 17).
The EU monitors countries granted GSP+ status to ensure that they proceed to uphold the international conventions and implements them effectively. Countries must also comply with reporting requirements and accept regular monitoring in accordance with the conventions.
Countries hold meetings on implementation of the 27 conventions, with a public report submitted to Brussels for review every two years.
According to the EU’s GSP Convention Compliance Database, Pakistan has ratified 27 international conventions, most recently ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976) and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987) in 2010.
Regarding the EU’s monitoring of Pakistan, the body prioritized 13 key areas: enforced disappearances; torture prevention; death penalty; freedom of expression and belief and minority rights; violence against women, transgender individuals, and minorities; right to information; labor inspectorates; freedom of association and the best to collective bargaining; child and compelled labor; combating climate change and environmental degradation; fight against corruption; drug control; and reporting.
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