Pakistan rubbishes US 'politicised, double standard' human rights report

• US ignores gross human rights violations in Gaza, Kashmir: FO
• "Pakistan committed to strengthen its human rights framework".
• Moral courage should be demonstrated to speak truth: FO spox.

As the US State Department released its country-wise analysis of the human rights situation, Pakistan has categorically rejected the contents of the “2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices”, terming it “unfair, based on inaccurate information and completely divorced from the ground reality”.

“The US State Department’s annual exercises of preparing such unsolicited reports lack objectivity and remain inherently flawed in their methodology,” Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement on Thursday.

“These reports use a domestic social lens to judge human rights in other countries in a politically biased manner. This year’s report is once again conspicuous by its lack of objectivity and politicisation of the international human rights agenda.”

She added: “It clearly demonstrates double standards thus undermining the international human rights discourse.”

Pointing out the US “double standards” on grave humanitarian issues, Baloch said: “It is deeply concerning that a report purported to highlight human rights situations around the world ignores or downplays the most urgent hotspots of gross human rights violations such as in Gaza and Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).”

Only a politically motivated report, she said, could ignore the alarming situation in Gaza, the weaponisation of humanitarian assistance and the massacre of over 33,000 civilians. "Silence of the United States on the continuing genocide in Gaza runs counter to the stated objectives behind the so-called country reports on human rights.”

In line with its constitutional framework and democratic ethos, Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to strengthen its own human rights framework, constructively engage to promote international human rights’ agenda, and uphold fairness and objectivity in the international human rights discourse, the spokesperson reiterated.

“If the US must engage in this exercise, then we expect the US State Department to at least exercise due diligence when conducting an assessment of complex issues, demonstrate objectivity, impartiality and responsibility in finalising such reports,” according to an official statement issued by the FO.

“It should demonstrate the requisite moral courage to speak truth about all situations and play a constructive role in supporting international efforts for bringing an end to atrocities in the most urgent hotpots of gross human rights violations,” it concluded.