Search Results for: blasphemy laws

Amnesty International called on Pakistan’s authorities on Tuesday to end the systemic discrimination and human rights violations against sanitation workers in the country, following the release of a new report. The organization emphasized how these abuses violate Pakistan’s obligations under international law and urged authorities to amend existing laws to align with international norms. The [...]

UN human rights experts on Thursday pressured the Pakistani government to implement more proactive measures to prevent “extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and assaults on cemeteries and places of worship” of religious minorities. “We are shocked at reports of increasing violence against vulnerable communities on grounds of their religion or belief,” experts stated. They claimed mass [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Sunday warned that Pakistan’s “blasphemy laws” are being applied in a discriminatory manner toward non-Muslim minorities, resulting in entire communities being forced from their homes. In its 29-page report, HRW claimed that individuals and communities affiliated with religious minorities are denied equality before the law. The organization alerted that communities in [...]

Iran faced global criticism at the 48th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Friday, as member nations denounced the country’s treatment of women, crackdown on dissent, and widespread use of the death penalty. Nations including the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland raised serious concerns over [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Vietnam on Tuesday to repeal its new cybersecurity law, saying that it violates the rights to free speech and freedom of expression. Vietnam’s new law, set to come into effect on December 25, builds on existing legislation to impose stricter rules surrounding internet use and freedom of speech. Vietnam’s current [...]

Now that the election is over, people might wonder what role the Supreme Court will play during Donald Trump’s second term. If the new president engages in behavior threatening to the Constitution and the rule of law, will the justices try to stop him, or will they move even further to the right? No one [...]

In this piece Chris Blackburn, Communications Director of the European Bangladesh Forum and co-founder of Global Friends of Afghanistan, highlights the severe human rights abuses in Pakistan, including the misuse of blasphemy laws and the repression of political movements and activists, and calls for international actions such as Pakistan’s suspension from the Commonwealth to pressure [...]

The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) is set to review Pakistan’s human rights record this Thursday and Friday under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). According to Amnesty International (AI), the review “comes at a crucial time for the country, as human rights violations and abuses remain rampant.” The review is part of Pakistan’s commitments [...]

The writer of this JURIST dispatch from Pakistan has asked that their name be withheld due to circumstances within the country.  On Thursday last week, a blasphemy suspect was shot dead while in police custody in Quetta, a southwestern city in Pakistan, after a policeman opened fire on him inside the police station where he [...]

Pakistani authorities initiated a rigorous investigation to identify and arrest members of a mob that killed a tourist accused of blasphemy in the Swat district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to local media on Friday. Regional Police Chief Mohammad Ali Gandapur confirmed that a case has been registered against the organizers of the mob [...]