Karachi: As Pakistan rejected three points in conditions for political rights and civil freedoms in a global classification, Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights, Azam Nazeer, Tarar, defended the unwavering commitment of the country with the promotion and protection of human rights.
According to Freedom House, a group of experts based in Washington that tracks democracy and threats to freedom worldwide, Pakistan qualified “partially free”, while global freedom also decreased during the year 19 consecutive in 2024, Dawn.com reported.
People experienced deterioration in their political rights and civil freedoms in 60 countries, and obtained improvements in only 34 countries, said Freedom House report.
“In environments where conditions worsened, the key factors that promote degradation in rights and freedoms included violence and repression of political opponents during elections, the ongoing armed conflicts and the propagation of authoritarian practices,” he said.
Freedom House’s report classifies Pakistan as ‘Free’; He says authoritarians squeeze their grip around the world
Pakistan was classified as “partially free” and rejected three points since the previous year. The points reflected the conditions for political and civil freedoms in a country.
Pakistan also qualified among the countries with the largest 10 -year decreases in freedom and decreased by 10 points. However, the country with the largest 10 -year decrease was Nicaragua (40 points), Tunisia (35 points) and El Salvador (28 points).
The organization pointed out that 2024 was tarnished by violence and repression around elections, ongoing armed conflicts and the propagation of authoritarian practices, all of which contributed to the decrease in global freedom.
Bután won the distinction of being the only country in southern Asia classified as free.
But others in the region obtained strong profits in the index without changing the categories: Bangladesh, where iron dagger leader Sheikh Hasina fled in front of a revolt, and Sri Lanka, where Anura Kumara Disanayake was elected president on an anti -corruption platform after breaking the domain of the two long parts.
Yana Gorokhovskaia, co -author of the report, said it was the 19th consecutive year that freedom fell worldwide, but that 2024 was especially volatile due to the large number of elections.
“The general panorama is that this was another year of the same trajectory of a worldwide decrease in freedom, but due to all elections, it was more dynamic than the previous years,” he said.
A weird bright point in the Middle East was Jordan, which was updated from “not free” to “partially free”, while Kuwait, Niger, Tanzania and Thailand were degraded “partially free” to “non -free.”
The only country given a perfect 100 score in Freedom was Finland, with New Zealand, Norway and Sweden just behind 99.
Pakistan promises to protect rights
When addressing a high -level segment of the 58th Session of the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday, the Federal Law Minister, the Senator of Justice and Human Rights, Azam Nazeer Tarar, highlighted the solid legislative and policy measures of Pakistan, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.
The minister stressed that more than 70 laws related to human rights have been promulgated in the last decade, with the recent “amendment 26 recognizing a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a fundamental right”, a milestone in the framework of human rights of Pakistan.
Expressing a serious concern about the global increase in religious intolerance, particularly Islamophobia, the minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to combat all forms of discrimination, hostility and violence based on religion or belief.
The minister also condemned Israel’s ongoing atrocities in occupied Palestine, particularly in Gaza, and urged the international community to take decisive measures to defend Palestinian rights. He reiterated that forced displacement and demographic reengineering violate the fundamental principles of international law.
He also denounced the illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir of India and his continuous denial of the right of the people of Kashmir to self -determination.
He asked the UN High Commissioner Office for Human Rights to update their Kashmir reports, while urging the establishment of an investigation commission to investigate the systematic violations of human rights in Kashmir.
Posted in Dawn, February 27, 2025
