Pakistan’s CAT Review: Closing the Gap Between Law and Practice

What is the current human rights climate in Pakistan?

Right now, it is one that is challenging and hopeful at the same time. We have seen in recent years that there are more legislative protections for victims of torture. Pakistan has passed a law criminalising torture for the first time since they ratified the Convention Against Torture in 2010. The issue now is bridging that gap between what is on paper and what continues to happen every day in police stations, detention centres and prisons. But it is one of hope because as civil society, we have seen unprecedented progress in recent years, and we continue to show up every day and fight to bridge that gap. 

Looking back at the first CAT review of Pakistan, what concrete changes at domestic levels can be linked to that process?

The biggest win that we have achieved by far is the passage of the Torture and Custodial Death Prevention and Punishment Act in 2022. We have also seen much stronger engagement and interest on the state's behalf in training criminal justice system stakeholders, on international and domestic standards on preventing torture. We have also seen the National Commission for Human Rights really step up in exercising their mandate to prevent torture, to monitor places of detention, and to exercise supervision over investigations into torture. 

What do you think are the most persistent challenges in implementing CAT recommendations in Pakistan? 

The biggest challenge is moving beyond legal protections on paper and actually implementing the safeguards that have been introduced. We still do not have an entirely independent and impartial mechanism for investigating complaints of torture and custodial death. We have very limited public and stakeholder awareness on rights, roles, and responsibilities under the Act, and we have a general lack of training of these justice system stakeholders on how they are supposed to exercise their responsibility and their mandate.

Why do you think mechanisms like the CAT are so important? 

They are incredibly important because they avoid the politicisation of human rights issues. They give states a chance to constructively engage with independent experts on improving their human rights track record, and they allow for civil society to be given a platform to bring forward evidence and to amplify voices of victims and survivors from back home. 

How do you think the Global Torture Index can help compliment the CAT review process? 

Due to the long duration between UN Treaty body reviews, it's often difficult to maintain public interest and momentum in improving protections against torture and in implementing recommendations that come from the reviews. The Global Torture Index can serve as an incredible tool in maintaining that momentum every year by keeping the issue of torture in both the public spotlight and serving as a reminder to policymakers that this is still very much a real issue that needs to be addressed. 

Pakistan underwent its second CAT review, what were your priorities this time around? 

Our priority this year is for recommendations and the concluding observations to reflect an implementation-focused approach. We are hoping for accountability to be translated and for protections to translate into real accountability, where we see real redress being given to victims, prosecutions taking place, and perpetrators being held truly accountable. 

What role should civil society, international organisations, and mechanisms play? 

Civil society should keep doing what it's doing. It should keep turning up in meeting rooms with the government. It should keep showing up in court and representing victims of torture. And it should keep fighting for improved accountability and an end to the current culture of impunity. International organisations with their expertise should be supporting these local civil society organisations that are working on the ground. And the CAT should keep doing what it does best, which is asking hard questions and demanding results and accountability. 

What still gives you hope in your activism? 

 What gives me hope is the survivors, their families, and the civil society organisations and lawyers who represent them, who show up every single day and continue to struggle to change a system that has historically remained very resistant to any kind of improvement since the colonial days. As long as these brave individuals keep showing up and fighting this fight. I think we'll always have enough hope to keep showing up as well.