Project Overview
To build capacity of the judiciary in order to enhance their understanding of international treaties and improve their role in the protection of rights, RSIL has been engaged by the Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) to develop a guide for judges on various human rights treaties and how domestic jurisprudence has evolved to ensure their protection with a focus on the right to life, freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, fair trial and due process, and protection against torture and to develop a training manual to provide members of the subordinate judiciary with practical skills that can be employed in cases which have a human rights element.
Additionally, within this project RSIL has undertaken the development of an online assessment tool through RSIL’s online training portal – GatherSense.com which will allow our project partners to monitor trainings and to conduct distance learning programs for Pakistan’s judiciary.
Project Outcomes
RSIL has completed the First Draft of the Guide on International Human Rights Law in the Criminal Justice System. The Guide has been developed to serve two equally valuable purposes; the first of which is to serve as a compendium of case law and information on the application of International Human Rights standards in the Pakistani legal context, and secondly to serve as training manual for Judicial Academies as well as other centres of learning in Pakistan. The Guide provides an exhaustive explanation of Pakistan’s International Obligations and the Role of the Judiciary in realizing the complete implementation of human rights in the State. It also expounds upon specific human rights such as protections in arrest, pre-trial and preventive detention, prohibition on torture and abuse, the right to fair trial, Protection of vulnerable groups and the right to life and security. It also sheds light on how the judiciary in Pakistan has interpreted the scope of these rights within their jurisprudence.
The Training Manual is being developed by the RSIL team and will be completed by September, 2020. The Manual will focus on mapping out technical processes to be followed by the Judiciary in dealing with cases relating to to torture of the accused, challenges to the age of the accused, false confessions, and other violations of Constitutional rights.
Date: 2020
Team Lead: Oves Anwar
Research Team: Zoha Shahid, Hijab Siddiqui, Fer Ghana Ansari, Seemal Hameed, Simrah Faruqi
