Pakistan urged to ensure rights as it faces Taliban
27 Jun 2008 13:05:57 GMT Source: Reuters
By Robert Birsel ISLAMABAD, June 27 (Reuters) - Hundreds of people in Pakistan have gone missing and women and girls have been left vulnerable to abuse as the government tackles militancy, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday. Commissioner Louise Arbour, visiting Pakistan this week to assess concern about judicial independence in her final trip in office, also said a dispute over judges risked paralysing Pakistan's government. Arbour said the government was using different means to fight militancy and it had to decide if military action or negotiations were more effective but either way, the government had to ensure the protection of human rights. "We have seen human rights violations in the context of counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations, including hundreds of unresolved cases of people disappearing," she told a news conference. On the other hand, peace deals undermined state authority in areas controlled by militants, in particular leaving women and girls vulnerable, she said. "When peace agreements are reached the government has an obligation to ensure that the peace agreement is not at the cost of surrendering the fundamental human rights of those who then don't have the capacity to turn to the state for their protection," she said. "Peace agreements that reduce the level of human rights enjoyment for women and girls, that's an example that is particularly alarming," she said. "HIJACKING AGENDA" Arbour said an independent judiciary was a fundamental cornerstone of a functioning democratic society and a long-running judicial dispute risked paralysing the government's ability to address other problems. "It is hijacking the rest of the government's policy agenda," she said. The judicial dispute has seethed since President Pervez Musharraf tried to dismiss the country's chief justice in March last year. The main partners in a coalition government made up of Musharraf's opponents who won February elections have been preoccupied with a disagreement over how to restore judges Musharraf dismissed when he imposed emergency rule in November. "I urge them to reach a consensus as soon as possible. However, in the process of restoring the Supreme Court judges it will be important not to compromise in any way the long-term independence of the court and its remedial powers," Arbour said. During her three-day visit, Arbour met Musharraf, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and other ministers as well as representatives of civil society. She said she was greatly encouraged by a recent announcement by Gilani that he intended to push for thousands of death sentences to be commuted. Musharraf had expressed his support for that, she said. "I have also urged the government to join the emerging global movement towards a moratorium on the use of the death penalty," she said. The former Canadian Supreme Court judge and U.N. war crimes prosecutor leaves her Geneva post on June 30 after four years during which she drew both plaudits and criticism for decrying abuses worldwide. Her successor has not been named and Arbour declined to comment on who it might be. (Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
Two women give birth in the labour ward of Hospital Escuela in Tegucigalpa June 26, 2008. Health authorities in Honduras say the infant mortality rate is 10.1 per 1,000 births and ...
