GSP+ Opportunity to Strengthen Human Rights Protection in Pakistan ?

“The GSP+ regime, a European Union tool, created to promote human rights through trade, has been hijacked in Pakistan to cover up and tolerate abuses. Instead of strengthening religious freedom and democracy, it accompanies surveillance, silencing, and persecution of minorities. The irony is that a policy designed to serve human dignity is in practice acting as a silent accomplice to oppression," according to an article by Staikou Dimitra in Eurasia Review.

The article calls for EU leaders to take a fresh look at the GSP+ status of Pakistan as the country has violated all the principles embodied in the system. “EU leaders can either choose to take a stand for the principles they swore to protect, or risk being accomplices to a tragedy unfolding in Pakistan,” the article observes.

Despite the trade privileges hat Pakistan enjoys from its access to the European market, the government continues to allow attacks on religious communities such as the Ahmadiyya and Christians, and restrict freedom of expression through digital surveillance. Rather than translating into institutional progress, economic cooperation often serves as a safety net for the regime, the article states.

Enforced disappearances, sometimes by state backed militias and in some cases by the state agencies themselves have left scars on vulnerable communities in Pakistan. This practice, which began during Pervez Musharraf’s military dictatorship, continues with the involvement of the military and intelligence services.

More than 5,000 people have disappeared, according to humanitarian organisations. In addition, approximately 80 civilians were convicted by military courts for participating in riots in 2023, which is considered incompatible with Pakistan’s international obligations. The trial of civilians by Military Courts was condemned by the EU at multiple times in the last one year, a cause big enough for the EU to seriously reconsider the GSP+ status for Pakistan, the article points out.

Pakistan’s violation of basic human rights, which GSP+ is designed to promote, is not limited to enforced disappearances and military trials. It extends to the technical domain as well.