6. In 2013, the CERD Committee recommended that Pakistan “take effective measures to
issue gypsies with identification documents.”9
7. In 2013, the CEDAW Committee recommended that Pakistan repeal all discriminatory
laws, including the Citizenship Act (1951) and accede to “the 1961 Convention on the
Reduction of Statelessness, with the aim to develop a national legislative framework to
strengthen the protection of refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons.”10
8. In 2016, The Committee on the Rights of the Child reiterated its recommendation (from
2009) on birth registration11 and recommended Pakistan to “enforce legal measures
against child and bonded labour involving refugee, asylum-seeking and stateless
children” and protect them from falling victim to early marriage, abuse, trafficking or
religious radicalization. It also recommended Pakistan to “ensure the equal
implementation of its citizenship laws with a view to extending citizenship to Bengali,
Bihari and Rohingya children” and urged the State to ratify the Statelessness
Conventions.12
9. In 2017, the Human Rights Committee13 and the CESCR Committee14 recommended that
Pakistan take measures to ensure that all children are registered at birth. The CESCR
Committee also recommended that Pakistan “adopt legislative and policy frameworks
to provide protection for refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons in compliance
with international norms and standards.”15
10. In 2020, the CEDAW Committee recommended that Pakistan “amend section 10 of the
Citizenship Act of 1951 with a view to bringing it into full compliance with article 9 of the
Convention by enabling Pakistani women to transmit their nationality to a foreign
spouse on an equal footing with Pakistani men” and “consider ratifying the 1954
Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the
Reduction of Statelessness.16
9
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, ‘Concluding observations on the combined twenty-first
to twenty-third periodic reports of Pakistan’, CERD/C/PAK/CO/21-23 (3 October 2016), para. 36.
10 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ‘Concluding observations on the fourth
periodic reports of Pakistan’, adopted by the Committee at its fifty-fourth session (11 February-1 March 2013),
CEDAW/C/PAK/CO/4 (27 March 2013), para. 36.
11 Committee on the Rights of the Child, ‘Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Pakistan’
CRC/C/PAK/CO/5 (11 July 2016), para. 29.
12 Committee on the Rights of the Child, ‘Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Pakistan’
CRC/C/PAK/CO/5 (11 July 2016), para. 66 (a)-(e). In 2009, the CRC Committee recommended that Pakistan
“ensure the full implementation of measures taken to remove structural obstacles to birth registration, launch a
mass cost-free birth registration campaign and simplify the procedures for birth registration in order to cover all
persons in the country, regardless of sex, religion, status or nationality, in accordance with article 7 of the
Convention.” It also recommended the state consider ratifying relevant international instruments, including the
Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. Please see: Committee on the Rights of the Child,
‘Concluding Observations: Pakistan’ CRC/C/PAK/CO/3-4 (15 October 2009), para. 83(d)-(e).
13 Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations on the initial report of Pakistan, CCPR/C/PAK/CO/1 (23
August 2017), para 44.
14 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Concluding observations on the initial report of Pakistan,
E/C.12/PAK/CO/1 (20 July 2017), para 62
15 Ibid, para 26.
16 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Concluding observations on the fifth periodic
report of Pakistan, CEDAW/C/PAK/CO/5 (10 March 2020), para 38.
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