Commentary – UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Mechanism – Noor Zafar
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What Does UN Human Right’s Council’s Universal Periodic
... [Show More] Review Mean for Women in Pakistan?
Noor Zafar *
Introduction:
‘Our hopes for a more just, safe, and peaceful world can only be achieved when
there is universal respect for the inherent dignity and equal rights of all members
of the human family.’
– UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
The impact of international institutions and their mechanisms on the domestic systems,
and in improving situation of people living inside different countries, has been a topic of
debate amongst international law scholars since decades. On one hand, the argument of
realists is based on negation of effectiveness of these institutions even on the international
scale.1
Realists believe that these institutions do not even have the ability to maintain
international peace and stability as they represent the self-interested paradigms of
powerful states and are not as independent as they claim to be.2
On the other hand, institutionalism argue that international institutions are independent
and they have the ability to alter the behavior and inclinations of the state and thereby
avoiding conflict and war.3
In view of institutionalists, the international institutions could
also make the states realize how their actions have an impact on their relative power
dynamics, and that way could discourage the countries from acting towards achieving
their goal based on self-interests.4 Mearsheimer believes that there is no place for
institutionalism in the
* The author holds BA.LLB from LUMS and LL.M from Notre Dame School of Law. Her research areas include
human rights, women rights and gender based violence with a. focus on rape and harassment. She is working as a
Criminal defense lawyer. 1 Mearsheimer, J.J. The false promise of international institutions. (19(3), International Society, 1995) pp. 5-49. 2 Id.
3 Id
4 Id.
www.lawyher.pk | [email protected]
Commentary – UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Mechanism – Noor Zafar
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www.lawyher.pk | [email protected]
contemporary international politics, and he sees it as a tool used by dominant Western
states in post-Cold War Era to defeat other states, or to achieve comparative gain.5
Some Pakistanischolarsshare similar beliefs as Mearsheimer’s, it is believed that existing
purported international law regime, which mainly consists of rules that are applicable in
inter-state relations, has been developed out of European state practices and the writings
of European publicists during the last four centuries.6
It is widely quoted that the
contemporary international law regime is basically ruled by European traditions, customs
and biases.7
An important factor that adds to the validity of this claim is that international
law was ‘consolidated and systematized in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries at a time
when a large number of Afro-Asian states were conquered and colonized and had
absolutely no say in the development and codification of international law.’8
One good example to look at, in order to refute the claims of realist would be the United
Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism. United
Nation’s Human Rights Council is an institution that has been involved in ensuring the
protection of fundamental rights of the citizens in different countries through a review
process for more than a decade now. The first part of the paper explains the Human Rights
Council’s universal periodic review. The second part of the paper talks about the
effectiveness of UPR. Moving further, the third part discusses the situation of women in
Pakistan and human rights violations they face.
The fourth part of the essay then talks about the three cycles of review that Pakistan has [Show Less]