Islamabad, June 27th 2016; 7th meeting of the Standing Committee on Human Rights was held today under the Chairmanship of Mr. Babar Nawaz Khan, MNA.

The meeting started with the recitation from Holy Quran then on behalf of Committee Hon. Chairman welcomed Mr. Stefano Gatto, Acting Ambassador of European Union as a special invitee. Thereafter, Committee invited two Hon. MNAs as a special invitee and then decided to proceed with the given agenda.

Agenda Item No. i; “Confirmation of minutes of last meeting held on 14-06-2016”. The Committee unanimously confirmed the minutes of its previous meeting held on 14-06-2016.

Agenda item No. ii; “To consider “The Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace (Amendment) Bill, 2014” {Amendments of section 1,2,3,4,7,10,11 & Schedule, Act IV of 2010} [moved by Ms. Asiya Nasir, MNA]”. The Committee discussed the moved bill and decided to get recommendations/suggestions of the Members of the Committee in next meeting after Eid-ul-Fitar holidays.

Agenda item No. iii; “Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Plus status of Pakistan is under threat for non-compliance with many Conventions of European Union (EU) related to Human Rights”.  The representative of European Union briefed the Committee about Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Plus Status in detail. The Committee asked many questions and showed its keen interest in the briefing. The EU representative responded successfully responded all questions. The Committee decided to take up the remaining agenda in next meeting.

The Hon. MNAs being Members/Mover/Special Invitee Begum Tahira Bukhari, Ms. Surriya Asghar, Ms. Kiran Haider, Ms. Zahra Wadood Fatemi, Ms. Amra Khan, Dr. Shazia Sobia, Ms. Musarat Rafique Mahesar, Ms. Kishwer Zehra, Ms. Aliya Kamran Murtaza, Mrs. Naseema Hafeez Panezai, Ms. Asiya Nasir, Ms. Shaza Fatima Khawaja, and Ms. Rumina Khurshid Alam were attended the meeting besides the team of European Union headed by Mr. Stefano Gatto, Acting Ambassador of European Union and Hon. Minister and Secretary for Human Rights with their staff.