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Summer 2017
DEFENDERS
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- Suspend all arms sales to Saudi Arabia, conducting serious
investigations into alleged war crimes committed by the Saudi
led coalition. The present foreign policy may make the British
government complicit in war crimes, pave the way for further
violations of international law and intensify the intolerable
sufferings of the Yemeni people, in complete contradiction with
the UK’s commitment for protection of human rights.
- Protect the children and families of migrants and refugees, and
accede to the ICRMW and consider the possibility of ratifying
the ICRMW and ILO Convention No. 143 on Migrations
in Abusive Conditions and the Promotion of Equality of
Opportunity and Treatment of Migrants. Take necessary
measures to avoid any use of detention for asylum seekers
during the process of determining their refugee status.
- Review the country’s hate crime laws and strategies to control
the dramatic rise in the crimes. In addition, the Kingdom is
recommended to study and address the factors that drive the
perpetrators to committing crimes and develop new preventive
measures.
- Pay due attention to the concerns expressed by human right
groups while making amendments to domestic laws.
ODVV Submission to Pakistan UPR;
28th session of UPR Working Group (Nov 2017)
The main issues raised by ODVV in its submission for Pakistan UPR include:
ratification of international instruments, violence against religious minorities,
drone strikes against civilians, and violence against women and girls.
ODVV report focuses on breaches against religious minorities including
attacks to a Shia mosque in Peshawar, killing 20 and injuring 60 worshippers,
another attack to two churches killing at least 22 people , as well as harassment
of the Hazara’ people by armed groups.
In addition, ODVV report raises concerns over drone strikes that kill
civilians in villages and the alarmingly widespread violence against women.
According to the reports , “there has been a 20 per cent increase in cases of
violence against women reported every year from 2012 to 2015”. “In 2013,
more than 5,800 cases of violence against women were reported in Punjab”.
In 2015, there were reports of 6, 505 cases of violence against women .
ODVV encouraged Pakistan to join a number of international instruments
including: the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons
from Enforced Disappearance (CPED), the Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court and the Optional Protocol to CRC on the involvement of