Pakistan rejects 2023 Country Report on Human Rights by US

Pakistan on Thursday categorically rejected the 2023 Country Report on Human Rights by the US State Department.

In a statement, the foreign office said the contents of the report were unfair, based on inaccurate information, and completely divorced from ground reality.

It said the report lacked objectivity and politicised the international human rights agenda, clearly demonstrating double standards.

US State Dept presents grim picture of rights abuses

The foreign office expressed concern that the US State Department’s report had highlighted human rights situations around the world but ignored the gross human rights violations in Gaza and Indian-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

It said the US State Department’s annual exercises of preparing such unsolicited reports remain inherently flawed in their methodology as they use a domestic social lens to judge human rights in a politically biased manner.

The statement said if the US must engage in this exercise, Pakistan expects the US State Department to at least demonstrate objectivity, impartiality, and responsibility in conducting assessment of complex issues.

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It also emphasised that the State Department report should demonstrate the requisite moral courage to speak the truth about all situations and play a constructive role in bringing an end to atrocities in the most urgent hotpots of gross human rights violations.

The foreign office reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to strengthen its own human rights framework, promote international human rights agenda, and uphold fairness and objectivity in the international human rights discourse.