The International Commission for Jurists (ICJ) said Pakistan panel’s failure demonstrates a larger problem

The International Commission for Jurists (ICJ) has slammed Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED) for failing to hold perpetrators responsible for the crime in the last several years.

According to a report by WION, the COIED was established in 2011 to trace the whereabouts of missing persons and fix the responsibility on individuals or organizations responsible for the enforced disappearances. The report said that ICJ noted that although the COIED had traced the whereabouts of the missing persons in a number of cases, there was no effort to fix the responsibility for the crime.

ICJ legal and policy director Ian Seiderman was quoted saying that the Pakistani commission has failed in holding even a single perpetrator of enforced disappearance responsible in its nine years. A commission that does not address impunity, nor facilitate justice for victims and their families, can certainly not be considered effective, he said.

The ICJ, which was established in 1952, comprises 60 eminent judges and lawyers from all regions of the world, says the report. It protects human rights through rule of law by using its unique legal expertise to develop and strengthen national and international justice systems. The report highlighted that ICJ regretted that hundreds of people continued to remain missing in Pakistan following their apparent arrest or abduction by security forces and military establishment. The international organization also described it as a culture of entrenched impunity pertaining to the crime.

The report said that ICJ pointed out that COIED’s failure demonstrates a larger problem. It said the COIED had allegedly promoted impunity by diverting investigation of human rights violations and crimes through the criminal justice process into a parallel and hoc mechanism vulnerable to political interference and manipulation.

Read the full report in WION