K-P launches human rights action plan

Sat, January 16, 2021

PESHAWAR:The provincial government on Tuesday launched its Human Rights Action Plan, similar to the one previously launched by Punjab.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Law and Human Rights Minister Sultan Muhammad Khan, who launched the plan, hoped that the plan will further strengthen protection of human rights in the province.

Addressing the launch event in Peshawar, Sultan said that the Human Rights Action Plan (HRAP) has been formulated in collaboration with all stakeholders.

"The HRAP was a great achievement of the provincial government which will enrich the protection of human rights," he said, stressing that their government was working to protect human rights in general and women's rights in particular.

Legislations in this regard are in the process of being developed, he said.

To improve the situation surrounding the protection of children, the law minister said that a Child Protection Court is being set up in consultation with the judiciary. Other children and women-oriented legislature which will be introduced include a domestic violence and child marriage restraint bill which he expected will be passed by the assembly soon.

Further, the minister said that a provincial human rights directorate has set up a database on human rights.

Elaborating on the plan, he said that responsibilities have been assigned systematically.

He added that the provincial government has been working on developing laws for a legal aid authority, women property rights and other key issues.

The plan had been developed under the National Human Rights Action Plan in association with a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Democracy Reporting International (DRI).

Blue Veins Coordinator Qamar Naseem said that while they hope this dossier will improve things in the province, he warned that similar plans, committees and commissions were set up by past governments as well but things they did not survive.

He urged the government to establish child units in each district of the province, adding that the provincial government should also work on the child marriage restraint bill as due to Covid-19, the ratio of underage girls getting married had seen a sharp increase.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2020.

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