Few would argue that Pakistan has a stellar human rights record, and one of the most problematic areas for the country to deal with has been torture. A new alternate report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), ahead of the review of the country’s compliance with its obligations under the Convention against Torture, highlights gaps in legal protections, allegations of custodial abuse and weaknesses in the implementation of the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act, 2022. The country ratified the Convention against Torture back in 2010, but seven years later, the UN expressed serious concern over the absence of adequate legal safeguards and lack of accountability for torture. Since then, while important progress has been made, the NCHR report says that significant issues still remain, including a statutory definition of torture that does not fully align with international standards, lacking an explicit reference to psychological pain and suffering, clearly defined penalties and sufficient provisions for victim rehabilitation and compensation. The report also points to procedural weaknesses, including unclear mechanisms for complaint registration and investigation, inconsistencies with international standards for medical examinations, and limited scope for independent or suo-motu investigations.
As such, despite the legal protections, allegations of torture against law-enforcement agencies remain widespread. Part of what makes the torture problem so hard to deal with is that far too many still cling to the myopic notion that this is an effective tool against criminals. The thinking goes that the under-resourced and under-equipped police in Pakistan, not helped by a clogged-up court system, has no option but to resort to unscrupulous methods in order to enforce the law and keep the peace. Needless to say, if this really were the case, then Pakistan would not have the law-and-order issues it currently has. Allowing the authorities to act with impunity rather than providing them with the support they need helps no one. However, this kind of dismissive and anti-evidence attitude towards human rights is no longer the province of Pakistan or other developing countries alone. According to Amnesty International’s State of the World’s Human Rights report released on Tuesday, the world is increasingly marked by widespread violations of international law and intensifying authoritarianism. Accompanied by it all is an increasingly dismissive attitude towards the entire concept of human rights. One can see this in how the US, the one-time champion of global rights and the ‘rules-based order’, no longer even tries to bother to come up with humanitarian justifications for its illegal wars and attacks on other countries.
Similarly, the Western world has largely failed to do much about the Israeli genocide in Gaza, with the US acting as the primary funder and backer of the atrocity. In a global climate like this, it is becoming harder to argue for the legitimacy of human rights. However, it would not be wise to dismiss their importance even in an era where adherence is not popular. Drifting away from the human rights path has not often created any advantage or gain for the states doing so and failing to uphold them can hold a country back. Take, for instance, Pakistan’s expansion of repressive digital laws like Peca, an issue raised by the Amnesty International report, and how such laws disrupt the development of a robust digital sphere and economy. Nor are wealthy and powerful countries like the US finding much joy in their wars and interventions, which have caused a lot of economic pain. The human rights approach might be unpopular, but it remains important and beneficial.
