Attorneys of Human Rights
Pakistan, being a member of the United Nations, is bound
by the standards on which the UN is founded, as expressed
in the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) 1948, which is considered as the “Bible
of Human Rights”.
Presently there is no existing training or educational programme
in the country. The human rights subject is yet to be recognized
as academic theme in the syllabi of educational institutions.
There is only one university which is offering certificate
course on different HR issues, but a lot has to still be
done. The Government of Pakistan has created a human rights
division, under the Ministry of Law & Justice but it
lacks resources to activate its activities.
In this situation it is very much needed to train and educate
at least lawyers of the country, who form a vital part of
the judicial system of Pakistan, about the importance of
basic human rights, international legal frame work and its
compatibility with domestic legislations.
To create awareness among legal fertility with the aim
of establishing a network of committed human rights activists,
SHARP, has revitalized the series of training workshops
for Attorneys of Human Rights. SHARP has been providing
legal aid to the victim of human rights violations but it
realized that the institutions responsible for sanctity
of basic human rights are not sensitized and aware of the
core instruments of protecting HR. the organization then
focusing on training the judiciary and lawyers for effective
protection of HR, has so far conducted 3 workshops for judiciary
of N.W.F.P. and Balochistan. Very recently it initiated
the idea of training a group of HR lawyers who will not
only protect the ill fated segments of society from Human
Rights violation, but will also monitor the situation in
their locality and advocate for better laws, standards and
practices.
The purpose of this training was to equip lawyers with
knowledge of the international legal framework and standards,
which are legally binding on Pakistan. The workshops were
aimed to achieve the idea of embedding a bed of Human Rights
Attorneys across Pakistan for the promotion and awareness
of legal and constitutional rights at grass root level.
It is pertinent to mention here that SHARP floated the
idea of establishing the net of Human Rights Attorneys,
which has long lasting effects on national HR arena, and
Action Aid Pakistan very kindly agreed to help and support
the project.
SHARP and Action Aid Pakistan have agreed to sponsor 5
workshops in all the four provinces in Pakistan. It is proposed
that after organizing 4 provincial workshops a nationwide
conference of all the attorneys would be conducted at the
end of the trainings to strengthen the network of the attorneys
at national level.
The training workshops were designed with the aim to focus
on the basic HRs, constitutional, children, women, refugees
and labor / workers rights. Special efforts are made to
familiarize and introduce participants to the international
obligations of Pakistan as a member of United Nations and
state party to different conventions. It was made acquaint
to the binding effect of customary international law and
how the ratification of any international convention entail
responsibility on the contracting state to implement its
provisions.
In 2005-2006, 4 trainings on the platform of SHARP and
Action Aid Pakistan have been conducted at Peshawar, Lahore,
Karachi and Quetta:
The potential workshops were designed to meet the following
goals and objectives;
Goals:-
• To embed a network of lawyers who are committed
to HR activities
• To utilize the expertise of the attorneys of HR
for promotion of HR in Pakistan
• To create awareness about HR at grass root levels
through Attorneys of HR
• To ensure speedy legal assistance to victims of
HR violations through the network of Attorneys of HRs
• To establish a mechanism of referral handbook of
HR attorneys
• To maintain contact with attorneys of Human Rights
on sustainable basis
Objectives:-
• To enhance awareness about the core HR instruments
• To augment the understanding of basic fundamental
rights in the constitution of Pakistan
• To apply the International Conventions in domestic
courts proceedings
• To provide orientation on the rights in light of
International instruments
• To increase responsiveness about the workers rights
• To educated the attorneys of HR on different international
and national legislations concerning rights of the target
population.
ACCREDITION
On 22 December 2006, “National Conference”
of all those trained Attorneys of Human Rights was held
at Best Western Hotel, Islamabad to accord them with “ID
Cards” and to formulate group network in the country.
The first ever network of Attorneys of Human Rights in Pakistan
has been introduced in order to improve the overall HR scenario.
SHARP expects that this network will be functioning to help
the needy people into protecting their rights and will also
monitor the violations in their respective areas.
SHARP also expects that the training of legal fraternity
will be continued as a regular feature and SHARP will get
more support from other agencies to widen this group in
the remaining parts of the country.
SHARP also envisions that if legal fraternity is motivated
and equipped, the violations will reduce and support to
the victims will increase considerably. SHARP rightly expects
support from other organizations working for the promotion
of human rights for further expansion of such trained network.
It is pertinent to mention here that Mr. Sher Bahadur,
Attorney of Human Rights in Haripur voluntarily provided
services to the victims of the torture cell run by Maulana
Ilyas Qadri. Haripur Police broke into the cell and recovered
115 persons, including 7 British nationals. Similarly, the
other Attorneys are also rendering services in their respective
areas.
