Pakistan faced severe economic crisis in 2023, HRW Report

Islamabad, 21 January, 2024 (TDF): In its recently released ‘World Report 2024,’ the Human Rights Watch (HRW) painted a stark picture of Pakistan’s human rights landscape, citing one of the worst economic crises in its history.

The report, spanning 740 pages and covering human rights practices in over 100 countries, emphasized the severe consequences of poverty, inflation, and unemployment, jeopardizing millions of people’s fundamental rights to health, food, and an adequate standard of living.

According to the HRW, Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate change remained exceptionally high.

The report also underscored the negative impact of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) insistence on austerity and subsidy removal without adequate compensatory measures.

These measures particularly affected low-income groups. These economic strains have exacerbated the challenges faced by the population.

The HRW raised concerns about increasing repression by the government, citing threats on the media that created a climate of fear among journalists and civil society groups. The government’s pressure on media preventing criticism on state institutions or the judiciary has led to widespread self-censorship.

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Furthermore, the report highlighted government intimidation, harassment, and surveillance of various groups, utilizing regulations to impede the registration and functioning of international humanitarian and human rights organizations.

Key Human Rights Concerns in Pakistan:

• Violence Against Women and Girls

The report emphasized the pervasive issue of violence against women and girls, including rape, murder, acid attacks, domestic violence, denial of education, sexual harassment at work, and child and forced marriage. “Honour killings” were noted as a serious problem, with an estimated 1,000 women murdered annually.

• Education Challenges

Over six million primary school-age children and 13 million secondary school-age children in Pakistan were reported to be out of school, with girls facing additional barriers such as child marriage, harmful child labour, and gender discrimination.

• Mental Health Stigma

A lack of awareness about mental health in Pakistani society contributes to the abuse of those with psychosocial disabilities and mental health conditions. Prisoners seeking mental health support are often mocked and denied services.

• Food Insecurity

Nearly 37% of Pakistan’s 230 million people faced food insecurity as of 2018, with only a fraction receiving assistance to mitigate the impact of rampant inflation.

Despite these challenges, the report acknowledged that Pakistan and China deepened their economic and political ties in 2023, continuing work on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a project involving the construction of roads, railways, and energy pipelines.

Elaine Pearson, Asia director at HRW, emphasized the urgent need for bold new approaches from rights-respecting governments and democratic institutions to address the threats posed by abusive governments in Asia to human rights both domestically and internationally.