Asma Jahangir Life and History

Asma Jilani Jahangir born 27 January 1952 in Lahore – died 11 February 2018 in Lahore) was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. She is widely known for playing a prominent role in the Lawyers’ Movement and serves as the trustee at the International Crisis Group. Born and raised in Lahore, Jahangir studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary before receiving her B.A from Kinnaird and LLB from the Punjab University in 1978. In 1980, Jahangir was called to the Lahore High Court and to the Supreme Court in 1982. In the 1980s, Jahangir became an democracy activist and was imprisoned in 1983 for participating in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy against the military regime of Zia-ul-Haq. In 1986, she moved to Geneva, and became the vice-chair of the Defence for Children International and remained until 1988 when she moved back to Pakistan.

In 1987 she co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and became its Secretary General until 1993 when she was elevated as commission’s chairperson. She was again put under house arrest in November 2007 after the imposition of emergency. After serving as one of the leaders of the Lawyers’ Movement, she became Pakistan’s first woman to serve as the President of Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan. She has co-chaired South Asia Forum for Human Rights and was the vice president of International Federation for Human Rights.

Jahangir served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion from August 2004 to July 2010, including serving on the U.N. panel for inquiry into Sri Lankan human rights violations and on a fact-finding mission on Israeli settlements. Jahangir is the recipient of several awards including the 2014 Right Livelihood Award (along with Edward Snowden), 2010 Freedom Award, Hilal-i-Imtiaz in 2010, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Ramon Magsaysay Award, 1995 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, and the UNESCO/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of a Culture of Human Rights. She was awarded an Officier de la Légion d’honneur by France. Her prominent writings include The Hudood Ordinance: A Divine Sanction? and Children of a Lesser God. She passed away on February 11, 2018.

 

Life and History

Jahangir was born into a prosperous and politically active family with a history of activism and human rights work. Her father, Malik Ghulam Jilani, was a civil servant who entered politics upon retirement and spent years both in jail and under house arrest for opposing military dictatorships. Her father was imprisoned on several occasions for his outspoken views, which included denouncing the Pakistani government for genocide during their military action in what is now Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan). Her mother, educated at a co-ed college at a time when few Muslim women even received higher education, also fought the traditional system, pioneering her own clothing business when the family’s lands were confiscated in 1967 as a result of her husband’s opinions and detention.

Jahangir herself became involved at a young age in protests against the military regime as well as opposing her father’s detention by then president, Benazir Bhutto’s father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1972. She received her B.A. from Kinnaird College, Lahore and her law degree in 1978, and her Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from Punjab University. She also holds an honorary doctorate from University of St. Gallen in Switzerland., Queens University, Canada, Simon Fraser University, Canada and Cornell University, United States. She is married and has a son and two daughters, Munizae Jahangir, a journalist and Sulema Jahangir, who is also a lawyer.

Author

In addition to many publications, Jahangir has authored two books: Divine Sanction? The Hudood Ordinance (1988, 2003) and Children of a Lesser God: Child Prisoners of Pakistan (1992). One of her major publications is titled “Whither are We!” and was published in Dawn, on 2 October 2000.

Death

Asma Jahangir suffered a cardiac arrest in Lahore on 11 February 2018 and died when was taken to the hospital. 11 february 2018

Hundreds protest against pardon for jailed ex-president Fujimori

Demonstrators march during a protest against the pardon granted by Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to former President Alberto Fujimori, in Lima, Peru. Thousands of Peruvians marched in Lima on Monday to protest the pardon of ailing ex-president Alberto Fujimori, who was serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses. Current President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski ordered the pardon of Fujimori and seven other prisoners on Sunday on humanitarian grounds, once again placing himself in the middle of a political crisis just days after he avoided impeachment.

PROTESTS

On Monday, protesters called for Kuczynski’s departure from office. “Out, out PPK! Out, out PPK!” angry demonstrators chanted in reference to the president, who had promised during his electoral campaign the previous year that he would not free Fujimori. “Fujimori, murderer and thief. No to the pardon!” read one of the signs held by the protesters, some of whom also carried a giant Peruvian flag. Relatives of victims of Fujimori’s brutal rule took part in the march. “We are here as relatives to reject this illegal pardon, because it does not correspond to the gravity of the crimes,” Gisella Ortiz, representative of a group of relatives of victims, told reporters.

 

 

 

 

Australia : End the abuse of refugees on Nauru

Australian immigration detention facilities comprise a number of different facilities throughout Australia (including one on the Australian territory of Christmas Island). They are currently used to imprison people who are detained under Australia’s policy of mandatory immigration detention, and previously under the now defunct Pacific Solution. The facilities are currently operated by Serco, and were previously run under G4S who used to be named Global Solutions Limited (GSL), under contract from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP).

Background 

The Migration Act 1958 allowed discretionary detention of unauthorised arrivals until 1992. Since the 1990s when the Keating Government created a policy of mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals, with non-citizens arriving by boat without a valid visa being detained until they were either granted a visa, or deported. Towards the end of the 1990s, a large increase in the number of unauthorised arrivals exceeded the capacity of the existing Immigration Reception and Processing Centres at Port Hedland and Curtin.

The facilities have been a source of much controversy during their time of operation. There have been a number of riots and escapes, as well as accusations of human rights abuses from organisations such as refugee advocates, Amnesty International, the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations. Journalists are forbidden from entering the detention centres. On January 2014, the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Greens accused the government of a cover-up over a violent clash on 18 October 2013 at the Manus Island facility between the Papua New Guinea army and the Papua New Guinea police mobile squad hired for the facility’s security, leading to Australian expatriate staff being evacuated, while local staff and asylum seekers remained. On 5 May 2014, it was reported that several Salvation Army staffers had alleged that refugees were regularly subjected to beatings, racist slurs, and sexual assaults within the facility. 

In March 2002, Irene Khan, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, said: It is obvious that the prolonged periods of detention, characterised by frustration and insecurity, are doing further damage to individuals who have fled grave human rights abuses. The detention policy has failed as a deterrent and succeeded only as punishment. How much longer will children and their families be punished for seeking safety from persecution? Former Prime Minister John Howard and successive immigration ministers maintained that their actions were justified in the interests of protecting Australia’s borders and ensuring that immigration law was enforced.

FARC rebels’ last days in the Colombian jungle ?

The Colombian government and the Farc rebels have signed a historic ceasefire deal, bringing them closer to ending more than five decades of conflict. The announcement is seen as one of the last steps before a full peace deal is signed, which is expected within weeks. Colombia’s president and the Farc leader shook hands in celebration. The longest-running insurgency in the Western Hemisphere left an estimated 220,000 people dead and almost seven million displaced. The announcement in Havana caps formal peace talks that started three years ago in the Cuban capital.

A Forgotten Crisis : Displacement in the Central African Republic…

 Ouham-Pendé, Central African Republic – As the humanitarian workers drive in to each village, people assemble around their vehicles or drag plastic chairs and benches to the shade to discuss the latest events: Which places have been attacked, burned or looted by armed groups, the number killed in this place or that, where people have fled to and how many have arrived from surrounding areas in search of safety. The emergency response team of NGO Action Against Hunger is on a mission in the Central African Republic’s northern Ouham-Pendé province – near the border with Cameroon – to reach out to those who have fled from a sectarian conflict that has left nearly one million people displaced, according to the UN. More than half have left the country, while the rest are living in camps inside Central African Republic (CAR) or sheltering with relatives and host families.

Rooted in longstanding resentment, the conflict erupted in 2013 when the mainly Muslim Seleka group seized power and the mainly Christian anti-balaka group formed in response. Atrocities were committed by both sides, leaving more than 6,000 dead and forcing an exodus of Muslims. Already chronically poor and unstable, CAR’s largely forgotten conflict has worsened a dire situation, disrupting food production and basic services and leaving swaths of territory under the control of armed groups and warlords. Today the UN says 2.3 million people are in need of aid, and half the population are without enough food.

There were tentative hopes of peace after a new president was elected in February, but a recent upsurge in violence – primarily in the north – has caused a new wave of displacement, says the UN’s refugee agency, with its human rights chief warning that he fears a “re-escalation”. CAR remains a country on edge, where rumours of impending attacks fly freely amid the terrifying truths, and the resulting tension is palpable. 

U.S. sanctions North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

The United States sanctioned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the first time, citing “notorious abuses of human rights,” in a move that diplomats say will incense the nuclear-armed country.

Inside Madaya : Horrifying picture shows man eating RUBBISH

This horrifying picture shows a starving man trapped in a Syrian town eating rubbish in a desperate attempt to survive. The man can be seen foraging in a pile of rubbish in the Syrian town of Madaya.

It has been surrounded by Syrian government forces with food and electricity supplies cut off. ctivists say a humanitarian crisis is now taking place with 40,000 people slowly starving to death. Horrifying pictures have emerged recently showing emaciated bodies of locals who have died from starvation.

 Desperate locals are even reportedly eating cats and dogs in a bid to survive. Other residents of the town – which is now covered in snow – have told how they have been eating leaves off trees in a bid to survive. Reports from the town – which is located on the Lebanese border – say it has been surrounded by land mines so locals are unable to escape. A pregnant woman is thought to have attempted to leave but stood on a land mine before she was shot by soldiers outside.

Opening Ceremony of the European Games

Fireworks explode during the opening ceremony of the 1st European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan,

Saudi King Salman meets with US President Barack Obama

Saudi new King Salman ® meets with US President Barack Obama at the Erga Palace in the capital Riyadh. Obama is in Saudi Arabia to shore up ties with new King Salman and offer condolences after the death of his predecessor Abdullah.

Guantanamo Bay hunger strike

 

A human rights lawyer says a growing number of inmates at Guantanamo Bay have joined a hunger strike. David Remes says out of 166 prisoners, around 130 are now on strike, in protest against conditions and indefinite confinement. He says the U.S. military has acknowledged that 100 inmates are on strike. Remes, who represents 17 detainees at the camp, says some inmates are being forced-fed. SOUNDBITE: (English) DAVID REMES, HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER, SAYING: “One of my clients said that it’s like having a razor blade go down through your nose and into your throat. They restrain detainees who don’t need to be restrained – that’s been happening during the hunger strike because they want to make it as miserable as possible to be on hunger strike. Sometimes they use tubes that are larger than necessary, circumference-wise, which causes extra unnecessary pain.” The U.S. military is sending additional medical help to the camp as the strike continues. It began early February, when guards seized belongings during a search.

 

Courtesy : Reuters