Pakistan Permanent Mission

Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva organized the 8th Istanbul Process (IP) virtually, on 16 February 2022. The meeting’s agenda was set on the theme “10th anniversary of Human Rights Council (HRC) Resolution 16/18: Looking Back and Moving Forward”. This meeting included three segments; (I) High-Level Inaugural Session, (II) Panel I: Ten years of Istanbul Process: Looking Back and (III) Panel II: Moving Forward: Next Ten Years and beyond.

Ambassador Khalil Hashmi concluded the session by sharing his sense of the following eight key takeaways of the meeting:

I. First, the continued significance of IP and HRC resolution 16/18 and its action plans as an essential anchor point in galvanizing international action and cooperation in this key area.
II. Second, it was important to preserve the international political consensus on resolution 16/18 as a framework for frank exchange of views.
III. Third; there was a clear need for further actions to galvanize implementation and enforcement through dialogue, raising awareness, promoting tolerance, and promoting values of peaceful co-existence and pluralism.
IV. Fourth; there was also a need for effective and balanced implementation of both affirmative and prohibitive measures, as listed in the 16/18 Action Plan.
V. Fifth; digital era presented a range of new challenges and opportunities to address concerns around hate speech.
VI. Sixth; there was also a need to bring coherence and define basic legal and normative standards and benchmarks. This could be explored by resuming discussions on an international instrument for countering religious intolerance.
I. Seventh; it was important to forge partnerships both horizontally and vertically to accelerate cooperation and dialogue among various stakeholders in terms of implementation of 16/18 Action Plan.
II. Eighth; more attention was needed to strengthen the organizational structure and administrative part of IP to build on the institutional memory.