Provincial minister HR&MA Ijaz Alam Augustine has said that Punjab government is determined to build a society based on principles of social and economic justice and for this collaboration of UNDP would be helpful to achieve the goals of Human Rights Department. He expressed these views while chairing a meeting to review the proposal of UNDP for working together with HR department at the camp office on Wednesday. The team of UNDP briefed to the minister that UNDP already been working with federal and other provinces and willing to work with Punjab’s HR department. They told to the minister that they want to provide technical and other assistance to support the Human Rights Department in the formulation of a provincial human data collection mechanism. UNDP Pakistan will develop a capacity building training programme for provincial line departments, including Punjab Treaty Implementation Cell regarding basic human rights obligations as well as the implementation of a pilot initiative for capacity building aimed at staff at the district level. It will also facilitate the department in establishing and maintaining linkages with relevant provincial and national stakeholders. Through this collaboration, UNDP Pakistan will undertake awareness-raising initiatives on existing rights-based mechanisms in Punjab. The provincial minister assured them that the proposal of UNDP will be considered and implemented soon after approval of the cabinet. The experts from UNDP Emna Bell, Irum Ali, Shahzad Ahmed and officials of HR&MA department were present in the meeting.
