‘Jail laws need to be amended in context of human rights’

ISLAMABAD - Adviser to Prime Minister on Human Rights Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar on Monday said that Pakistanis are battling against a mindset that is in contradiction with human rights, and particularly women rights.

He expressed these views in a national stakeholders’ conference on the juvenile justice system, organised by the Society for Human Rights and Prisoners Aid (SHARP) in collaboration with the German embassy.

He said the government had tabled the “Human Rights Bill 2012”, with articles addressing the increase of the juvenile offender age and penalisation of child trafficking in the country. SHARP Chairman Liaqat Banori said that prisoners and jail laws should be amended in the context of human rights. He urged the government to bring legislative amendment in the bail procedure specified in the Criminal Procedure Code. He added that World Prisoners Day should also be observed internationally.

Parliamentarians, prisons and probation authorities, police, international organisations and civil society representatives across Pakistan participated in the conference.

(2012-12-18/pakistantoday)