Compliance dividends |
DURING a conversation some years ago, a Supreme Court judge observed that as a sovereign independent state with an independent judiciary, we should not care about international pressures or obligations that are imposed on us. I politely dissented, explaining that our sovereignty was not an abstract absolute. Instead, it was subject to treaty commitments that we as a state had made over the years.
This question of a foreign state or entity impinging on our sovereignty is raised often. Take the EU’s GSP Plus status for Pakistan, which enables a concessionary regime for Pakistani exporters. For that status to continue beyond 2027, Pakistan, as a federation, must implement 27 international treaties and conventions in all four provinces and all territories that it exercises sovereign control over, such as Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.
The cumulative effect of these 27 conventions is that, besides the more obvious issues, the federal government across Pakistani territory has to take care of even the less noticed vegetation, grass, trees, bushes, birds, animals, watercourses, mountains, etc. For instance, the federation must ensure that there is no over-hunting that could drive a species to extinction. At another level, it is obligated to take care of its own people, and ensure they will not be discriminated against, nor deprived of life and liberty, nor face unreasonable restrictions in expressing themselves, and that they will be given dignity, with any state action against them having the law’s sanction. The rights and welfare of women and children will be protected. Labourers in factories, industries, shops, hotels, in fact all businesses, will not work in subhuman conditions and the federation will protect their........