CIVICUS has submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Committee on the state of civic space in Pakistan ahead of its review of the state’s implementation of its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in September 2024.
In the submission, CIVICUS documented the use of defamation laws to criminalise human rights activists, journalists and critics and create a chilling effect for those who may want to express freely. The submission highlights the use of a colonial-era sedition provision used on a regular basis against political activists, human rights defenders (HRDs) and journalists. The misuse of blasphemy provisions against minority communities, including Ahmadiyya Muslims were also documented.
Systemic attacks against journalists including arrests, arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, killings and physical attacks raise severe concerns on press freedom in Pakistan. The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 has been used to block and remove internet content considered offensive, and has been used to censor critical views. The authorities also suspended mobile internet services across Pakistan on election day, 8 February 2024, and also blocked access to X/Twitter and other social media platforms.
While the right to freedom of peaceful assembly is guaranteed under the Constitution of Pakistan it is subject to significant restrictions through broad and restrictive laws. In recent years, CIVICUS has documented a crackdown on opposition protests with incidents of unlawful killings, excessive force including the use of firearms, arbitrary arrests and the prosecution of protesters. Protest by ethnic minorities particularly ethnic Baloch and Pashtun activists and protesters have faced restrictions and attacks while the annual Aurat March, held by women human rights activists on International Women’s Day, 8 March have faced repeated restrictions from police and harassment and attacks from non-state actors.
CSOs are subject to extensive regulation involving multiple and lengthy procedures of registration, security clearances and approvals for funding. Further, the criminalisation, harassment and intimidation of HRDs have been documented as well as their abductions and killings.
The submission calls on the UN Human Rights Committee to make a series of recommendations, including:
- Review defamation provisions in the Penal Code, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 and other provisions in order to bring them into line with international standards.
- Immediately lift any ban on social media platforms and ensure uninterrupted access to digital platforms and internet services by reviewing section 37 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act.
- Amend the Maintenance of Public Order Law, 1960, in order to guarantee fully the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.
- Take measures to foster a safe, respectful and enabling environment for civil society, including by removing legal and policy measures that unwarrantedly limit freedom of association.
- Provide civil society members, HRDs and journalists with a safe and secure environment in which to carry out their work, conduct impartial, thorough and effective investigations into all cases of killings, enforced disappearances, attacks, harassment and intimidation against them and bring the perpetrators of such offences to justice.
Civic space in Pakistan is rated repressed by the CIVICUS Monitor.
About the CIVICUS Monitor
Over twenty organisations collaborate on the CIVICUS Monitor to provide an evidence base for action to improve civic space on all continents. Civic freedoms in 198 countries and territories are categorised as either ‘closed,’ ‘repressed ,’ ‘obstructed ,’ ‘narrowed ’ or ‘open ,’ based on a methodology that combines several data sources on the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression.
