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By Dr. Emanuel Adil Ghouri

International organizations, including the United Nations and the European Union, have long expressed concern about human rights in Pakistan, especially the rights of minorities. In the past six months, several delegations from the European Union have met with Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Minister for Minority Affairs Ramesh Singh to convey their concerns. The United Nations Committee on International Human Rights has also expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the National Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The situation of minority rights in Pakistan has always been troubling. It is important to recall that the European Union restricted its trade activities with Pakistan by placing the country on the FATF grey list in June 2018. This was Pakistan’s third time on the list, the previous periods being between 2012 and 2015. Minority rights and the EU’s “grey list” are linked in the broader context of accession to the European Union, where the protection of minorities is an essential condition for candidate countries.

The “grey list” of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) intersects with the EU’s Trade for Rights scheme, which provides significant trade benefits to Pakistan. Reports from EU monitoring missions have consistently highlighted serious concerns, including the misuse of blasphemy laws, forced conversions, enforced disappearances, and torture. Although the rights of minorities in Pakistan are constitutionally guaranteed, the ongoing violations remain a major concern and have led to continued scrutiny under the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) trade agreement.

Pakistan was removed from the grey list in October 2022 after pledging to improve the human rights situation for minorities, women, and children—a commitment from which Pakistan has benefited commercially. By this time, Pakistan had gained total benefits of 3.6 billion euros and had nearly doubled its trade with Europe, increasing from 4.5 billion euros to 9 billion euros.

According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan on November 17, 2025, earnings from exports to the European Union rose to $3.17 billion between July and October—an increase of $3 billion compared to the same months the previous year. Pakistan has clearly taken full commercial advantage of its GSP+ status after exiting the grey list. But has it implemented the assurances it gave to the European Union? Critics are urging the EU to investigate widespread human rights abuses in Pakistan.

The human rights situation in Pakistan has not improved; in fact, it has worsened in recent years, a reality well known to EU representatives. In August, former European Union Ambassador Rena Cionca expressed concern over the human rights situation in Pakistan—including the rights of minorities, women, and children—and called on the government to demonstrate credible and tangible progress on human rights and labor reforms, especially as the EU’s new trade preferences scheme will include stricter requirements. She explained that EU monitors “read the newspapers, they have their own networks, they know what is happening,” enabling them to assess whether conditions are improving.

She further noted that European lawmakers and civil society have emphasized making trade privileges conditional on human rights and minority protections. “If there is no progress on this front, why should we continue with this level of trade privileges?” she asked.

In light of these concerns, the European Union appears increasingly unsatisfied with Pakistan’s treatment of minorities. In October 2023, Pakistan’s GSP+ status was extended until 2027, but the next monitoring cycle is expected to influence Pakistan’s reapplication under the new scheme, which will take effect in 2027.

In an interview with Dawn News, European Union Ambassador to Pakistan Raymond Krobulis stated that Pakistan must make strong progress on its international commitments to remain eligible for the GSP+ preferential trade scheme. Highlighting areas of concern, he cited human rights, the death penalty, blasphemy laws, enforced disappearances, minority rights, women’s rights, child labor, and forced labor.

According to the latest reports, a European mission will visit Pakistan by November 28, 2025, and its confidential findings will form the basis of the 2026 GSP+ report, which will determine whether Pakistan can maintain this important trade facility beyond 2027. The mission will not rely solely on information provided by the government; it will also gather data through meetings with government institutions, civil society, human rights groups, activists, and the private sector. The European Union’s efforts to ensure minority rights are sincere.

In Pakistan, however, will the selected minority political representatives, the so‑called crusader mafia, and religious leaders—who gather thousands of Christians in the name of crusade to protect wealth accumulated in the name of religion and who provide politicians an opportunity to shine—truly represent minorities before this commission? Will they inform the mission that minorities are worried about the misuse of the blasphemy law? Will they say that young Christian girls face forced marriage and religious conversion? Will they acknowledge that minorities are victims of political inequality?