After a decade of enjoying preferential trade access to European markets under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status, Pakistan’s performance record reveals systematic non-compliance with the very international conventions it pledged to uphold. An economic opportunity worth billions has devolved into a showcase of state failure, with Pakistani authorities seemingly content to reap financial rewards while sidestepping fundamental human rights and labor obligations The European Union’s recent biennial assessment raises a lot of serious questions on Pakistan. Despite ten years of GSP+ benefits that have doubled Pakistan’s exports to EU countries, the Pakistani state has remained stubbornly resistant to implementing the 27 international conventions on human rights, labor rights, environmental protection, and good governance that form the backbone of this preferential arrangement.
The Ministry of Commerce’s internal assessment that withdrawal of GSP+ status would cost Pakistan up to $2 billion annually reveals the high stakes. Yet instead of addressing root causes, the government’s strategy appears centered on diplomatic maneuvering and avoiding public responses to criticism rather than substantive reform. The recommendation for a Prime Ministerial visit to Brussels focused on defense and security partnership rather than human rights compliance speaks volumes about Pakistan’s priorities. At the heart of this failure sits the Pakistani state itself, which has consistently undermined compliance through both action and inaction. The state’s involvement in human rights violations directly contradicts its GSP+ commitments, particularly regarding civil and political rights. The military’s role in trying civilians in military tribunals, specifically the 85 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf supporters sentenced for their alleged participation in the May 2023 protests exemplifies this contradiction. These trials, as the EU itself noted, are inconsistent with Pakistan’s obligation under ICCPR, particularly Article 14, which guarantees the right to fair trials before independent courts.
The state’s failure to implement effective Treaty Implementation Cells (TICs) in provinces beyond Punjab and Sindh demonstrates institutional neglect. These cells, designed specifically to oversee and report on GSP+ implementation, lack both capacity and resources, a shortcoming highlighted repeatedly in EU assessments but left unaddressed by Pakistani authorities. In the realm of racial discrimination, Pakistan’s state institutions have entrenched rather than combated prejudice. The EU report notes the shocking absence of a comprehensive policy to counter hate speech. More troublingly, the state has actually injected Islamic religious references into teaching materials for non-religious subjects under the “Single National Curriculum,” violating both Article 22 of Pakistan’s own constitution and Article 7 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
Religious minorities face institutionalized discrimination, with public sector job quotas for minorities routinely unfilled except for lower category positions in lowly paid and hazardous jobs. The state’s failure to adopt legislation against forced conversions and marriages has particularly devastating consequences with reports of 78 cases of forced or questionable conversions from religious minorities to Islam in 2021 alone, with at least 76% involving minors. Perhaps most disturbing is the state’s complicity in the abuse of blasphemy laws, which continue to “infringe on the freedom of religion and belief as well as the freedom of expression, particularly for minorities.” In just 2020-2021, the government reported 681 cases registered for offenses against religion, disproportionately affecting non-Muslim religious minorities, Shia Muslims, and Ahmadis. Behind these statistics lie human tragedies, innocent individuals imprisoned, attacked, or killed based on false accusations, often with state authorities either inactive or complicit.
The Pakistani state’s approach to press freedom represents another area of flagrant non-compliance. Ranked 150th out of 180 countries on press freedom, Pakistan routinely employs government regulatory agencies to block cable operators, TV channels, and mobile broadband. The suspension of mobile broadband following the May 2023 incidents affected 125 million users, a mass communication shutdown that violates Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Perhaps nothing demonstrates state culpability more clearly than the ongoing crisis of enforced disappearances. Between 2011-2023, the Commission on Forced Disappearances received nearly 10,000 cases, with over 2,200 still pending. The perpetrators continue to enjoy impunity, and the state has failed to enact federal-level legislation against enforced disappearances despite years of promises. Each disappearance violates Article 9 of the ICCPR, guaranteeing protection against arbitrary arrest or detention, yet the practice continues with state security forces widely implicated. Women’s rights remain another area where state failure is evident. Pakistan ranks 142th out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index—a statistic that reflects deep institutional failures. The state’s inability to address sexual violence is particularly disturbing, with independent sources indicating a 200% increase in rape cases in Sindh province alone, with conviction rates below 1%. This judicial failure represents a profound state abdication of responsibility.
Children fare no better under state protection. Despite the enactment of the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act in 2022, torture remains “routinely used” in investigations. Child abuse cases number in the thousands annually with 2,227 cases reported in just the first six months of 2023. Early marriage continues to devastate young lives, with only Sindh province having enacted laws banning marriages before age 18, while 18 percent of girls nationally are married before that age. Labor rights violations complete the picture of non-compliance. Child labor surveys show prevalence rates above 13% in Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan, with nearly half of working children in Punjab aged 10-14 employed in hazardous conditions. Religious minorities represent 80% of those in low-skilled, low-paid sanitation jobs, reflecting systematic discrimination. Women’s labor market participation remains below 21% compared to 68% for men, another indicator of institutional failure.
After a decade of GSP+ benefits, the Pakistani state’s record reveals a pattern not of gradual improvement but of entrenched resistance to reform. The benefits of increased trade appear to have flowed to elites rather than improving conditions for ordinary citizens. The imminent fifth biennial review in 2025 presents a critical juncture, with the EU expanding its conventions from 27 to 32, requiring Pakistan to reapply for continuation of benefits. Pakistan now stands at a crossroads. The Ministry of Commerce’s recommendation to avoid public reactions to criticism while engaging in high-level diplomacy suggests a strategy of deflection rather than substantive reform. For the EU, the question becomes whether continued trade preferences without meaningful compliance undermines the very principles the GSP+ scheme was designed to promote.