UN Watch was quoted in multiple media outlets during January 2023 on topics including repressive regimes hijacking the U.N. Human Rights Council, antisemitism and anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, and UNRWA incitement.
Quoted in CNS News, “Ahead of UN Human Rights Review, Pakistan Tightens Its Already Draconian Blasphemy Laws,” January 30, 2023:
Pakistan will on Monday undergo a mandatory U.N. Human Rights Council review of its human rights record, two weeks after lawmakers passed legislation to toughen what are already arguably the world’s harshest blasphemy laws.
“While the session is meant to scrutinize governments and thereby strengthen the basic rights and freedoms of their citizens, most of the UNHRC members who take the floor are expected instead to praise Pakistan for its alleged achievements,” the Geneva-based NGO U.N. Watch predicted ahead of the UPR.
U.N. Watch said it had documented 10 “false claims” in the Pakistani government’s formal submission to the HRC as part of its review.
One of them deals with the blasphemy laws situation. Islamabad says in its submission to the council that it is “committed to curb the misuse of blasphemy laws,” and has put in place “safeguards,” including imprisonment for those convicted of filing false blasphemy charges.
U.N. Watch alleged that the reality was different.
“The Pakistani NGO Center for Social Justice reported that in 2021 at least 84 people were accused of blasphemy in Pakistan and three people were...
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