The
International Human Rights Day is an occasion for the comity of nations to
reaffirm its commitment to the protection of human rights and the promotion of
human values across the globe in the true spirit of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights Proclaimed by the United Nations in 1948.
Pakistan is fully alive to its
national and international responsibilities to preserve human rights. We stand
resolute in upholding the core of values of, and fundamental right to, the
equality of all human beings, peaceful co-existence, respect for diversity and
difference, and protection against discrimination in any form, as ordained by
our religion and obligated by our constitution. It is Islam that for the first
time incorporated human rights as an integral part of its code of law, thereby
providing the necessary legal foundations for just and inclusive society.
In conformity with our beliefs and
commitments, the Government of Pakistan is under taking several important
initiatives, including multidimensional legal reforms and the establishment of
institutional mechanisms that would ensure the protection of human rights,
especially in the case of marginalised and disadvantages societal groups. An
autonomous National Commission for Human Rights has been established and the
Action Plan for Human Rights priorities the rights of women, children,
minorities and persons with disabilities.
I would also like to avail this
opportunity to appreciate the efforts made by the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights for the protection of human rights around
the world. However, we must also understand that the apathetic denial and grim
violations of even the very basic of human rights to the Palestinians, the
Kashmiris and Rohingyas continue to call in question the collective conscience
of the international community. Neverthless, I have firm faith that with
earnestess of purpose and concerted effort by hte international fraternity, we
will, one day, build a fair and equitable world in which all communities,
peoples and nations will have the same fundamental rights- grounded in their
being ‘human’, and not their ‘difference’.
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