Human rights situation depleting in Pakistan

10/06/2022

Nicola Costantin

Pakistan and Human Rights Researcher

The human rights situation in Pakistan is not improving at all, with several media reports and global bodies reflecting the dire situation for women, minorities and children.

On May 27, a young woman has been raped by the railway staff members on a moving train putting the spotlight on the South Asian nation's poor record with women's rights. Salman Sufi, the head of the Prime Minister's Strategic Reforms Implementation Unit, told ordered the railway operators to improve the safety of women on trains, with measures including CCTV cameras in common areas, emergency buttons in cabins, and patrols by women police officers (Mogul & Saifi, 2022). 

According to the Ministry of Human Rights, in a study published in 2022, there were 14,456 women assaulted in Pakistan in the last four years. 4,326 cases of rape were reported in the year 2018 followed by 4,377 rape cases in 2019, 3,887cases in 2020, and 1,866 cases in 2021. Miserably, only 4 percent of these rape cases have resulted in a conviction (ANI, 2022). 

In the year 2021, Pakistan ranked 153rd out of 156 countries on the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Report, which considers female political empowerment, economic participation, educational attainment and health (ANI, 2022).

Sources.

ANI. (2022). Human rights situation depleting with every rising sun in Pakistan. Big News Network.Com. Retrieved June 10, 2022, from https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/272579650/human-rights-situation-depleting-with-every-rising-sun-in-pakistan

Mogul, R. & Saifi, S. (2022, June 2). Pakistan gang-rape: Anger after woman allegedly attacked on moving train. CNN. Retrieved June 10, 2022, from https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/02/asia/pakistan-gang-rape-train-intl-hnk/index.html