10. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), along with relevant Special Procedures should monitor the situation in Pakistan and offer a response to situation concerning human rights abuses, especially of the religious minorities.
11. Independent Expert on Minority Issues should make a visit to Pakistan, as her mandate includes the implementation of the UN Declaration on the rights of the persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.
12. The Human Rights Council should address this issue in the next HRC Session, persuade the government of Pakistan to stop defying recommendations made by the Council during Universal Periodic Review6 which included repeal of all discriminatory laws along with blasphemy laws and comply with international obligations on human rights and religious freedoms. The organizations endorsing this statement would like to draw the attention of the Human Rights Council to the gross and systematic human rights violations due to the existence, application and abuse of the so called blasphemy laws in Pakistan. The recent incidents in Gojra, Korian, Kasur and Gujranwala from June to August 2009 are a sad reminder of what has been going on under the excuse of blasphemy for nearly 25 years. On 1 August, seven Christians including women and children were burnt alive, several dozens injured and around 177 houses were looted and destroyed mainly by fire using special chemicals. These killings and widespread violent attacks happened on unsubstantiated allegations of ‘desecration of Quran by the Christians’. The administration repeatedly failed to protect minorities despite prior information and warnings about these attacks.
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