President signs convention on civil, political rights

Friday, 04 Jun, 2010

Source: Dawn

 

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari signed on Thursday two recently ratified international conventions, adding Pakistan to the list of countries which have ratified all international conventions related to good governance, sustainable development and human rights.

 

The two conventions are: The international convention on civil and political rights and the convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment..

 

The first convention bars the signatory countries from awarding capital punishment to under-18 convicts.

 
The cabinet in a meeting on March 24 had ratified the conventions with certain reservations.

 
The Instrument of Ratification signed by the President will now be sent to the United Nations.

 
The salient features of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights are: All peoples have the right to self-determination; respect for individuals without distinction of any kind e.g. race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status; equal right of men and women to all civil and political rights; every human being has the inherent right to live.

 
In countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes. Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. Sentence of death shall not be imposed on under-18 convicts. 

The convention also envisages that no-one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and in particular, no-one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation; no-one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country; no-one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, or correspondence; everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and no-one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice; and everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference. 

 

The salient features of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment are: All peoples have the right to self-determination; respect for individuals without distinction of any kind e.g. race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status; no state party shall expel, return, extradite a person to another state where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture; ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law; and enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation.

 

 The Instrument of Ratification signed by the president also contains reservations protecting national rights relating to (a) Islamic law and ideology (b) issue of self-determination, (c) anything repugnant to the provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan.