Projects & Activities

The project seeks to advocate for the promotion and protection of the fundamental right to religious freedom for minorities living in Pakistan.Through liaisons with governmental and non-governmental entities in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, this project aims to engage key stakeholders in a range of research & advocacy efforts geared towards increasing awareness about both, the key challenges faced by minorities in terms of access to religious freedom as well as legal and policy solutions to address these challenges.

SEEM is CSJ’s debut project in the field of economic empowerment and social protection. SEEM aims to facilitate minority citizens’ access the various social protection schemes being offered by the government by creating and raising awareness in those districts in Punjab with a concentration of minority population.

This research-focused project seeks to strengthen engagement with decision-makers for a more inclusive and equitable education system. In doing so, it aims to study the factors that contribute to disparity of minority citizens’ and communities’ education-related right as well as to strengthen advocacy engagement with decision-makers for education system reforms focusing inclusion of religious diversity and tolerance in the society aligned to fundamental rights of Article 22, Article 25, Article 25-A of the Constitution and Sustainable Development Goal 4. All research-related evidence generated as part of this project are available on CSJ website.

This project seeks to engage on resolving issues at law and policy levels that affect personal and communal lives of minority citizens in Pakistan. The project will comprise of research and advocacy efforts dedicated to improve compliance of Supreme Court orders of 19th June 2014, and to reform education system to make it more inclusive and equitable, and to enhance institutional protection against forced conversions.

The project is mainly about advancing the work of PMCR to advocate legislation for NCMR, and generally present the activities highlighting importance of minorities’ rights in Pakistan. The project will undertake activities including a) :

dialogues, assemblies and conferences, capacity building training and follow-up, b) Lobby meetings with political parties, and c) review laws and policies and prepare two-three draft (bills) for legislation, d) monitor the implementation of Supreme Court orders in judgment passed on 19 June 2014, e) and refer violations of minorities’ rights to concerned government bodies for remedy.

The project is based on a focused advocacy campaign for rights of religious minorities particularly, in conjunction with upcoming general elections 2018, banking on the accessibility of candidates to electorate in the specific constituencies for national and provincial assemblies during canvassing, etc

The project aims to improve capacity of human rights actors to engage in advocacy/lobbying intervention with legislators with regards to legislative and administrative measures on minorities’ issues, and increase awareness of affirmative measures (laws and policies) to strengthen consensus/ownership for concrete policy reforms on (a) Legislation for regulatory authority for implementation of job quota, (b) Legislation for setting up statutory national commission for minorities’ rights, and, (c) Reviewing Education Policy/ system to remove discriminations on the basis of religion or belief.

The project aims to increase public awareness about equality of rights, and articulate demands for inclusive, affirmative measures (legislation, policy reforms and implementation mechanism) for the religious minorities, and increase interest and participation of the religious minorities in electoral process in the upcoming general elections in 2018, and improve capacity of human rights advocates and involve them in lobby with candidates on issues of marginalization and for better protection of minority rights.