- Mazhar is a Social Development professional with over 17 years of work experience in design, planning, management, an... moreMazhar is a Social Development professional with over 17 years of work experience in design, planning, management, and monitoring and evaluation of social inclusion programs. He has worked in advisory and managerial roles with UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), Save the Children UK, Institute of Social and Policy Sciences (I-SAPS), and NGOs in Pakistan and other developing country contexts. Key areas of his expertise and interests include: social policy; poverty reduction and social protection; citizen voice and accountability; disability inclusion; and consumer protection. Currently, he is working as Senior Social Development Advisor and Team Leader, Accountability, Inclusion and Rights at DFID Pakistan.
Mazhar has published peer-reviewed papers on comparative social policy and development, women and micro-finance, community participation, and human rights. He has a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge, and an M.Sc. in Pakistan Studies from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.edit
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The luxury-versus-necessity controversy is primarily concerned with the importance of civil and political rights vis-à-vis economic and social rights. The viewpoint of political leaders of many developing and newly industrialized... more
The luxury-versus-necessity controversy is primarily concerned with the importance of civil and political rights vis-à-vis economic and social rights. The viewpoint of political leaders of many developing and newly industrialized countries, especially China,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia is that civil and political rights are luxuries that only rich nations can afford. The United Nations, transnational civil society and the Western advanced countries oppose this viewpoint on normative and empirical grounds. While this controversy is far from over, new challenges of “evidence” and “marketization” are emerging. The first calls for a narrative on the history of civil and political rights in the West in the comparative context of the Industrial Revolution and the East Asian Miracle and China’s economic growth. The effects of the recent financial crisis and insulation of China from the Arab Spring further deepen this challenge. The marketization challenge looks at this controversy from the social exclusion angle. It argues that the basic needs covered by the minimum human rights agenda are becoming luxuries in a real sense for those who do not have the power to purchase these needs from the market.
Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia is that civil and political rights are luxuries that only rich nations can afford. The United Nations, transnational civil society and the Western advanced countries oppose this viewpoint on normative and empirical grounds. While this controversy is far from over, new challenges of “evidence” and “marketization” are emerging. The first calls for a narrative on the history of civil and political rights in the West in the comparative context of the Industrial Revolution and the East Asian Miracle and China’s economic growth. The effects of the recent financial crisis and insulation of China from the Arab Spring further deepen this challenge. The marketization challenge looks at this controversy from the social exclusion angle. It argues that the basic needs covered by the minimum human rights agenda are becoming luxuries in a real sense for those who do not have the power to purchase these needs from the market.
Research Interests:
Most freedom of information laws exclude the private sector from their jurisdictional purview, and apply only to information and records held by the state, subject to exemptions. A main reason for the exclusion is that the laws have... more
Most freedom of information laws exclude the private sector
from their jurisdictional purview, and apply only to information and
records held by the state, subject to exemptions. A main reason for the
exclusion is that the laws have evolved in the conventional human rights
framework, which has long imposed obligations for human rights on the
state only. A departure from this convention is now taking place with
sharing of human rights responsibilities with the private sector as well. In
this scenario, exclusion of the private sector from the laws has deleterious
effects on transparency and integrity in public policy as well as on
capability of the citizens to exercise their human rights. Because the
private sector is now performing many public functions that were
conventionally performed by the state, substantial amount of information
held by the former is now placed out of the scope of legal regime for
access to information. Therefore, extension of the regime to the private
sector has become vital for advancement of the human rights agenda.
from their jurisdictional purview, and apply only to information and
records held by the state, subject to exemptions. A main reason for the
exclusion is that the laws have evolved in the conventional human rights
framework, which has long imposed obligations for human rights on the
state only. A departure from this convention is now taking place with
sharing of human rights responsibilities with the private sector as well. In
this scenario, exclusion of the private sector from the laws has deleterious
effects on transparency and integrity in public policy as well as on
capability of the citizens to exercise their human rights. Because the
private sector is now performing many public functions that were
conventionally performed by the state, substantial amount of information
held by the former is now placed out of the scope of legal regime for
access to information. Therefore, extension of the regime to the private
sector has become vital for advancement of the human rights agenda.
Research Interests:
Global integration of China and India has had quite different effects on the structural pattern of their economic growth. Manufacturing became the engine of economic growth in the former whereas the latter thrived due to the rapid growth... more
Global integration of China and India has had quite different effects on the structural pattern of their economic growth. Manufacturing became the engine of economic growth in the former whereas the latter thrived due to the rapid growth of services sector. The implications of their present patterns of growth seem to be very favourable for long-term development. However, employment effects of their integration into the global economy are quite similar, and are evident in fast growth of labour, migration of skilled labour force to developed countries, decline of employment in formal sector and slow growth of regular wage employment. In this context, sustainability of the fast economic growth of China and India depends largely on the extent to which they are able to generate a process for steady expansion of regular wage employment and productivity of low skilled labour force.
Research Interests:
The Indian economy has grown by more than 8 percent per year since 2003-04. This achievement has triggered a debate around the question: Is the fast economic growth of India based on a sound foundation that will ensure its sustainability... more
The Indian economy has grown by more than 8 percent per year since 2003-04. This achievement has triggered a debate around the question: Is the fast economic growth of India based on a sound foundation that will ensure its sustainability in the future? This paper reviews varied arguments within this debate and concludes that scepticism seems to outweigh optimistic perspectives. This perception emerges because the Indian labour force is growing at 2 percent per year which is even faster than that of China. A majority of this labour force will be absorbed in agriculture and informal sector which have low productivity. The services sector is booming, but it cannot absorb major proportion of the growing low- and unskilled labour force. India needs to take benefit of its advancement in the IT sector to increase productivity of its agriculture and informal sector for maintaining the fast growth of economy.
Research Interests:
Culture is a main determinant of international human rights law’s impact on local justice. To a large extent, the impact depends on the extent to which disjuncture between cultural values and global vision of human rights is addressed.... more
Culture is a main determinant of international human rights law’s impact on local justice. To a large extent, the impact depends on the extent to which disjuncture between cultural values and global vision of human rights is addressed. This is best illustrated in the efforts for translation of Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) into elimination of children’s corporal punishment in Pakistan. Evidence shows that there exists a socially acceptable standard of punishment in the country, whereas the CRC does not accept punishment in any form, to any degree, at any place. In this situation, the translation of the CRC into vernacular remains an uphill task because the cultural acceptability of punishment is rooted deeply in family and school cultures. The transnational, national, regional and local actors have been unable to clear the space for transnational standards and leverage sufficient demand for change. The Pakistani government has failed to effectively enforce ban on corporal punishment and to repeal Section 89 of Pakistan Penal Code which allows punishment. International human rights law is less likely to be effective unless intermediaries organize demand for change and remove inconsistencies between local practices and universal norms of human rights.