Statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour at the end of her official visit to Pakistan

27 June 2008


I am very grateful to the Government for its hospitality in arranging this visit and ensuring its success. I have had a series of very positive and wide-ranging meetings with the President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of Law and Justice, as well as with representatives of civil society, UN agencies and the diplomatic community.

This is my first visit to Pakistan and it is timely, although it comes in the very last days of my tenure as High Commissioner for Human Rights. Pakistan plays an extremely important role in the UN human rights system, particularly in the Human Rights Council, and the invitation it extended to me reflects a new willingness to engage with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). OHCHR can make a positive contribution at this critical juncture in Pakistan’s transition to democracy and we hope to resume the deployment of a Human Rights Advisor to the UN Country Team in order to pursue several initiatives that have been discussed during this visit. I am pleased that this has been well received by all my interlocutors, and I hope that we will be able to move forward with this in the near future.

I am conscious this is an incredibly challenging period of Pakistan’s history, as it attempts to manage its transition to democracy, and balance and stabilize its key state institutions, while simultaneously grappling with global economic difficulties and standing on the front line in the global fight against terrorism, reflected in part by the insurgency and increasing lawlessness in the western and northern parts of the country.

I have been deeply impressed by the historic mobilization of Pakistan’s civil society – including the lawyers’ movement, human rights activists, political parties and trade unions – in defense of democracy and the rule of law. This movement has had a transformative effect on people’s consciousness of their human rights and their ability to affect change.

A loosening of restrictions on the media over the past decade – with the period of the state of emergency last year the exception rather than the rule – has given rise to a very vibrant and diverse media which, I hope, will continue to play an important role in shoring up the checks and balances that hold democratic governments accountable to their electorates. Taken together, the courage and commitment shown by all these actors give me hope that the country has both the internal resources and resilience to surmount the many major challenges that lie ahead.

First amongst them, an independent judiciary is a fundamental corner-stone of a functioning democratic society, and the current judicial crisis in Pakistan, centered on the composition of the Supreme Court, risks paralyzing the new government’s ability to address other critical policy challenges.

While there are a number of different approaches to this issue, I welcome the commitment of all parties to find a solution, and urge them to reach a consensus as soon as possible. However, in the process of restoring the Supreme Court judges it will be important not to compromise in any way the Court’s long term independence and remedial powers.

In relation to the equally pressing challenge of security, the Government has been pursuing a number of strategies including military action against the complex mix of Taliban and other militant groups – and political negotiations. In either case, the government has the responsibility to ensure the protection of civilians. On the one hand, we have seen human rights violations in the context of counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations, including hundreds of unresolved cases of people disappearing, apparently not of their own free will. On the other hand, peace deals with some militant groups have undermined state authority in the areas controlled by the militants, leaving local people vulnerable to a range of very serious human rights abuses ranging from social restrictions to attacks on minorities and extra-judicial killings. Women are being particularly badly affected, facing severe constraints, and girls’ schools have been forcibly closed or destroyed in some areas. In that context, I welcome the overarching strategy of the Government to promote development in the most-affected areas.

Sometimes transitions of the kind currently taking place in Pakistan offer opportunities for bold and forward-looking initiatives. As one example of this, I am greatly encouraged by the Prime Minister’s recent announcement that he intends to push for thousands of death sentences to be commuted, and President Musharraf also expressed his support when I discussed this issue with him. I have also urged the Government to join the emerging global movement towards a moratorium on the use of the death penalty and, as a first step, to considerably reduce the number of offenses for which capital punishment can be imposed in Pakistan.

As a further gesture of reconciliation after the traumatic events that took place during the state of emergency declared last November, I encourage the Government to drop all outstanding charges against those human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and political activists who were detained during this period.

Louise Arbour