EU calls on Pakistan to repeal blasphemy law and forced marriages
Pakistan may lose its trade privileges unless it takes measures to protect human rights in the country.
On January 31, 2025, a European Union delegation warned that Pakistan’s preferential trade status could be at risk if the country fails to address human rights issues, including controversial blasphemy laws, the conversion of minority girls to another religion, and freedom of religion or belief, Morning Star News reports.
The delegation, led by EU Special Representative for Human Rights Olof Skoog, met with senior Pakistani officials.
The meeting noted that Pakistan remains a key EU partner in South Asia and that relations with the bloc are based on shared values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, guided by the principles of the UN Charter and international norms. The country’s leadership is failing to observe these norms, thereby calling into question continued cooperation under previous arrangements.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Christians had been acquitted in a blasphemy case in Pakistan.
