GENEVA: Pakistan is set to be reviewed on April 18 and 19 by the United Nations (UN) Committee Against Torture (CAT) on its compliance with the Convention Against Torture.
This will be the first time Pakistan is reviewed by CAT ever since the country signed and ratified the convention in 2008 and 2010 respectively.
Pakistan ratified CAT to qualify for its GSP+ scheme, a preferential trade status that has seen Pakistan’s exports rise by 22 percent. In fact, Pakistani exports under the GSP+ scheme increased to €6.2 billion from January to December 2016. Failing to comply with these requirements can put these economic advantages at risk.
In its initial report, submitted five years after it was due, Pakistan argued that its pre-existing legal framework is in line with the provisions of the convention. It highlighted that torture is prohibited and prevented in Pakistan, with allegations of abuse effectively investigated and prosecuted.
However, the report only reiterates sections that have little connection to torture.
Torture remains ill-defined in Pakistani jurisprudence as the only mention of torture in the constitution, in Article 14(2), does not define the scope of torture. Both the penal code and the Code of Criminal Procedure do not mention torture by name, and the offences and punishments highlighted by the state in its report only concern the “hurt principle” which deals with the severest of bodily injuries resulting in permanent damage.
The Justice Project Pakistan has submitted a pre-shadow report with Reprieve and OMCT evaluating Pakistan’s compliance to CAT in 2015 and a report on the violations of CAT in the government’s application of the death penalty in March 2017.
JPP Executive Director Sarah Belal said, “In Pakistan, torture at the hands of the police is widespread, systemic and rarely punished. It is an unfortunate state of affairs when the ones who are meant to protect you are the ones you need protecting from. We hope that this review provokes some much needed introspection about the dire need for reform in our criminal justice system, particularly when torture-induced confessions have led to wrongful executions.”
