Justice

The UN report, issued on January 13, finds that sexual violence was “part of a deliberate, widespread, and systemic pattern of violations” by state security forces, and “may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Opening the hearings, Judge Iwasawa Yuji, President of the Court, outlined a detailed schedule that includes two rounds of pleadings by Gambia and Myanmar, as well as closed sessions to hear testimony from witnesses called by the applicant State.

The new campaign criticises the international community’s shift toward what the group calls “silence and normalization.” Despite widespread initial outrage, some countries have engaged with the Taliban on pragmatic grounds.

The case has sparked alarm about shrinking civic space, erosion of rule of law and misuse of cybercrime legislation to criminalise dissent.

The accord, signed at Singha Durbar on Wednesday, comes three months after mass protests shook the country.

As protests grow, human rights defenders are calling on Pakistan’s new administration to take immediate steps.

Human rights advocates warn against prematurely declaring victory: without transparency, there’s a risk that groups may operate below the threshold of legal recognition, or rebrand themselves in ways that evade enforcement. Others say that the success of anti-gang efforts must be measured not just in arrests, but in sustainable social reintegration of former gang members, especially youth.

The absence of female panel members in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s ADR committees and the exclusion of non-Muslim members make clear that what may appear as decentralised and accessible justice may in practice perpetuate discrimination.