Human rights have been widely defined as being rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination. These rights are interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. Internationally, human rights are guaranteed and protected by various forms of legally binding instruments including treaties, customary international law, general principles, and other sources of international law. Together this body of law is known as International Human Rights Law (IHRL) and as it is a subset of public international law it is primarily addressed to States.
IHRL limits what the State can do to its subjects and protects individuals from excesses that a State may commit. This aspect of IHRL is in line with the doctrine of the Rule of Law, one tenet of a functioning democracy.
The notion of the Rule of Law illustrates that every person is subject to the law, including lawmakers, law enforcement agencies and judges. The Rule of Law ensures that every person in positions of authority shall exercise their power within the established framework of public norms rather than acting on their own preferences or ideology. A significant component of the Rule of Law is the protection of human rights in which the judicial organ of the State plays the most important and active role. To uphold the Rule of Law in any State, judges must act as protectors of human rights.
In addition to any State’s central constitution, statutes and the jurisprudence of their courts, the sources of law also include international laws or instruments, and cultural or religious norms. All of these collectively contribute to the domestic rule of law and the rights of the people.
While there are various international law treaties that ensure the rights of individuals, nine human rights treaties form the core of the human rights framework in international law.[1] Out of these nine conventions, Pakistan has ratified seven and is a party to hundreds of multilateral treaties and thousands of bilateral treaties and commitments etc. This shows the State’s willingness to operate in accordance with international law. Fig. 1.1 below shows the core IHRL treaties and Pakistan’s ratification status:
| INSTRUMENT | STATUS IN PAKISTAN |
| Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 | Widely accepted as customary international law |
| Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1965 | Ratification 1966 |
| International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 | Ratification 2010 |
| International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966 | Ratification 2008 |
| Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 1979 | Ratification 1996 |
| Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1984 | Ratification 2010 |
| Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 | Ratification 1990 |
| International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families 1999 | No action |
| Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography 2002 | Ratification 2011 |
| Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict 2002 | Ratification 2016 |
| International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance 2006 | No action |
| Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2008 | Ratification 2011 |
| Figure 1.1 – International Human Rights Instruments |
Notes & references (1)
- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Convention on the Rights of the Child, International Covenant on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities↩ International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial DiscriminationInternational Covenant on Civil and Political RightsInternational Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural RightsConvention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against WomenConvention against TortureConvention on the Rights of the ChildConvention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Optional Protocol