Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir has directed provincial governments to implement International Conventions in letter and spirit which are mandatory for the effective utilisation of GSP plus scheme granted by the European Union (EU). Commerce Ministry is responsible for submitting the implementation status of International Conventions to the European Union.
Presiding over a meeting of Treaty Implementation Cell (TIC) of all the stakeholders, the Commerce Minister stated that the government was co-ordinating with representatives of all federating units to appoint focal persons for treaty implementation, amend existing laws and promulgate new ones to bring them in accordance with the international conventions Pakistan has to comply with under GSP plus.
TIC was established on the directions of Prime Minister of Pakistan after the grant of GSP Plus to Pakistan by the European Union to ensure compliance with the international conventions. The representatives from four provinces, AJK and GB informed the meeting about progress on promulgation of laws on women, children, labour and minorities'' rights, torture against the weak, elimination of racial discrimination and civil, political and economic rights. In most cases, local Human Rights Directorate has been established with the local Law department which would oversee and ensure effective implementation of these laws.
Federal Government has time and again directed the provincial governments to take concrete measures to improve human right situation but progress is still not up to the mark. The tragic incidents like murder of Farzana Parveen by her father and brothers outside the Lahore High Court (LHC) may have serious ramifications unless the government takes appropriate action to punish the guilty and to implement laws to deter a recurrence of such a heinous crime.
"Present implementation status of International Conventions signed by Pakistan needs more focus," the sources quoted the Minister as saying in the meeting. According to an official statement, the meeting was informed that TIC was conceived as a monitoring, oversight and co-ordinating body to ensure timely provision of the relevant data information from the corresponding provincial departments etc required by the federal ministries on the specified format. The meeting confirmed that the Law Ministry had forwarded the templates on which provinces are expected to provide requisite information to federal ministries for preparation of consolidated reports for onward transmission to the UN monitoring bodies.
Ministry of Commerce has set up a link on its website for all the relevant documents pertaining to UN Conventions, guidelines of the relevant UN monitoring bodies, templates of the reports, reservations by the Government of Pakistan as well as copies of previous reports sent to UN bodies.
It was decided at the meeting that the Ministry of Commerce would also conduct seminars in consultation with other federal ministries and provincial departments concerned for raising awareness about the need for compliance with the International Conventions. In this regard, federal ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Narcotics Control and National Health Services and Regulations would also be taken on board. TIC meeting was attended by Special Assistant to PM Khawaja Zaheer, Secretary Commerce Arbab Shahzad, Secretary Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Barrister Zafarullah Khan, representatives of the Law Departments of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
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