ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Human Rights Pakistan held the third meeting of the Inter-Ministerial and Inter-Provincial Steering Committee on the implementation of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights to share the progress on Action Plan in 2022 and deliberate on goals for implementation of Pakistan’s National Action Plan (NAP) on Business & Human Rights (BHR) in 2023.
Federal Minister for Human Rights, Mr. Riaz Hussain Pirzada chaired the meeting and emphasized that coordination among the federal and provincial governments is the key to ensuring the effective implementation of National Action Plan.
The Steering Committee has representation from all line Federal Ministries and Provincial Departments. Members of the Steering Committee deliberated upon goals for 2023. The Committee unanimously decided that in 2023 there should be a special focus on implementation of Action Points related to anti-discrimination, protection of marginalized communities and Action Points related to human rights due diligence (HRDD) in business sector.
Following a presentation by the Ministry of Human Rights, elaborating the initiatives undertaken in 2022 for implementation of Action Plan, an open discussion was held among the members of the Steering Committee.
The Committee members emphasized that implementation of the Action Plan can significantly contribute to fulfilling the fundamental rights of children, women, marginalized communities and the working class.
Meanwhile, participants from Labour Department, Government of the Punjab, Law and Human Rights Department, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Human Rights Department, Government of Sindh, and Industries and Commerce Department, Government of Balochistan, Ministry of Commerce and Pakistan Workers Federation, President Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry (OICCI) shared valuable inputs on the implementation of the Plan and gave recommendations to take the Plan ahead in 2023. It was unanimously agreed that the structure of the Steering Committee will be reciprocated at provincial levels as well.
Concluding the meeting, the Secretary of the Ministry of Human Rights, Ali Raza Bhutta thanked all the participants for their dedicated participation and mentioned that decisions taken in this meeting will be disseminated among all stakeholders as represented in this Steering Committee to ensure efficient implementation of the NAP across Pakistan
