She is a leading Pakistani lawyer, advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, President Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan and human rights activist, who works both in Pakistan and internationally to prevent the persecution of religious minorities, women, and exploitation of children.
She was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief from August 2004 to July 2010 (first attached to the former Commission on Human Rights, now to the Human Rights Council). Previously, she served as the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Summary Executions.
She is a founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and has served as Secretary-General and later Chairperson of the organization.
Jahangir and her sister, joined with fellow activists and lawyers to form the first law firm established by women in Pakistan.
In the same year they also helped form the Women’s Action Forum (WAF); a pressure group campaigning against Pakistan’s discriminatory legislation, most notably against the Proposed Law of Evidence, where the value of a woman’s testimony was reduced to half that of a man’s testimony, and the Hadood Ordinances, where victims of rape had to prove their innocence or else face punishment themselves.
On February 12, 1983, the Punjab Women Lawyers Association in Lahore organised a public protest (one of its leaders was Jahangir) against the Proposed Law of Evidence, during which Jahangir and other participating WAF members were beaten, teargassed, and arrested by police.
In 1982 Jahangir earned the nickname “little heroine” after leading a protest march in Islamabad against a decision by then-president Zia ul Haq to enforce religious laws and stated: “Family laws [which are religious laws] give women few rights” and that “They have to be reformed because Pakistan cannot live in isolation. We cannot remain shackled while other women progress.”
In 1986 Jahangir and Hina set up AGHS Legal Aid, the first free legal aid centre in Pakistan. The AGHS Legal Aid Cell in Lahore also runs a shelter for women, called ‘Dastak’.
She won the Supreme Court Bar Association election by defeating her competitor Ahmed Awais and securing 834 of total votes and became the first ever women President of SCBA in the history of Pakistan.
She has recived; the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders as well as the Ramon Magsaysay Award for “greatness of spirit shown in service of the people”, the Millennium prize, by UNIFEM (the United Nations Development Fund for Women) in collaboration with the non-governmental organisation International Alert, the Freedom of Worship Medal for her human rights and religious freedom activism in a ceremony held in the Nieuwe Kerk in Holland, theHilal-i-Imtiaz, the second highest civilian award of Pakistan and the 2010 UNESCO/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of a Culture of Human Rights, recognizing her efforts as a human rights defender. (via womenwhokickass)
WARPED BLACKBOARD: Three-year old Rajo stood in front of a blackboard corroded by floodwater Thursday in the Pakistani village Ramli Khosso. Up to five million people in Pakistan are at risk from floods this year, partly due to poor reconstruction, the United Nations said. (Akhtar Soomro/Reuters) (via in1987)
One is a sportsman par excellence bringing accolades to the country, while the other is groundbreaking pop singer with a fan following crossing all boundaries. Their fields are different but what they share is a deep feeling for the country and the people of Pakistan.
Aisam ul Haq Qureshi and Hadiqa Kiani are Pakistan’s UN Development Programme National Goodwill Ambassadors.
Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna read Portuguese Minister’s speech at United Nations Security Council for three minutes until pointed out for his mistake.
Well okay lets be honest, in Pakistan and India we love blaming each other’s intelligence agencies when things go wrong. It is almost a standard joke now, but here you can see Pakistani ISI pulling out another trick - they make S M Krishna read the Portuguese speech for three minutes until an official intervenes and points out the correct paper!
News clip is from an Indian News Channel and is in Hindi, we couldn’t find any English commentary on the gaffe.
World champion footballers and United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassadors, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane announced that the 8th Annual Match against Poverty as per the annual schedule of UNDP will channel funds into recovery efforts for the nearly 25 million people affected by the Pakistan floods and Haiti earthquake later this year.
According to official website, UNICEF and UNDP team up with Beckham and Zidane to draw global attention towards helping Pakistani flood victims but the news reports in media are quoting the names of Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane to play the charity match.
The match will be played on 15 December at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece. As in previous years, the Goodwill Ambassadors will mobilize their team from across Europe to take on an all-star team from Olympiacos Football Club in a friendly match as part of the global effort to reduce poverty and achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Football’s magic and player’s stardom will surely be a magnet for the global awareness to support the people and governments of Pakistan and Haiti to recover from the devastating natural disasters which affected them so terribly in 2010 but unfortunately often too quickly forgotten.
UNDP will receive half of the match proceeds which it will dedicate to ongoing recovery efforts in Haiti and Pakistan. Earlier this year, in January, the 7th Annual Match took place in Lisbon, Portugal, where the Zidane/Ronaldo UNDP team took on Benfica, drawing a crowd of 55,000 spectators and raising more than half a million euro (US$767,000) for the people of Haiti.
UNITED NATIONS: For the third time in a row, Pakistan was re-elected Monday to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the economic arm of the United Nations, for a three-year term, beginning 1 January 2011.
Already on the 54-member council, Pakistan received 149 in the 192-member UN General Assembly to serve another term.
Five weeks ago, torrential monsoon rains triggered devastating flooding in Pakistan. It turned out to be the country’s worst natural disaster on record. Across the country, more than 1.2 million homes damaged or destroyed. The rice you earn on Freerice from September 7 will go to help the people of Pakistan.
Since the start of the crisis WFP has delivered a one-month supply of food to more than 3 million people. These include a million young children, who have been given special foods to prevent them from slipping into malnutrition. Last week, we started enriching the basic emergency food rations used up to now, adding new items including rice.
Because of the flood damage, many farmers in Pakistan cannot plant crops for the coming year, meaning that in addition to the current needs – around six million people currently need food – there is also a risk of severe hunger in the coming year.
The Facts:
3.6 million hectores of cropland have been submerged and 200,000 head of livestock killed.
March 2011 will be the earliest that farmers can plant crops again, if flooding prevents them in mid-September.
3 million people have been reached by WFP with a one-month supply of food – 100,000 people a day.
600 WFP trucks are transporting WFP food around the country, at any given moment.
Many thanks to everyone playing Freerice and helping the millions who have seen their lives washed away by the floods.
This blog aims at telling you the "truth" about Pakistan. Unfortunately, today the news emerging from Pakistan on the Western media are so much polarized that it gives a very unreal image of Pakistan.
At "What no one told you about Pakistan", we aim at telling you the real stories about Pakistan.
![Asma Jilani Jahangir: Why she kicks ass
She is a leading Pakistani lawyer, advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, President Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan and human rights activist, who works both in Pakistan and internationally to prevent the persecution of religious minorities, women, and exploitation of children.
She was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief from August 2004 to July 2010 (first attached to the former Commission on Human Rights, now to the Human Rights Council). Previously, she served as the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Summary Executions.
She is a founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and has served as Secretary-General and later Chairperson of the organization.
Jahangir and her sister, joined with fellow activists and lawyers to form the first law firm established by women in Pakistan.
In the same year they also helped form the Women’s Action Forum (WAF); a pressure group campaigning against Pakistan’s discriminatory legislation, most notably against the Proposed Law of Evidence, where the value of a woman’s testimony was reduced to half that of a man’s testimony, and the Hadood Ordinances, where victims of rape had to prove their innocence or else face punishment themselves.
On February 12, 1983, the Punjab Women Lawyers Association in Lahore organised a public protest (one of its leaders was Jahangir) against the Proposed Law of Evidence, during which Jahangir and other participating WAF members were beaten, teargassed, and arrested by police.
In 1982 Jahangir earned the nickname “little heroine” after leading a protest march in Islamabad against a decision by then-president Zia ul Haq to enforce religious laws and stated: “Family laws [which are religious laws] give women few rights” and that “They have to be reformed because Pakistan cannot live in isolation. We cannot remain shackled while other women progress.”
In 1986 Jahangir and Hina set up AGHS Legal Aid, the first free legal aid centre in Pakistan. The AGHS Legal Aid Cell in Lahore also runs a shelter for women, called ‘Dastak’.
She won the Supreme Court Bar Association election by defeating her competitor Ahmed Awais and securing 834 of total votes and became the first ever women President of SCBA in the history of Pakistan.
She has recived; the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders as well as the Ramon Magsaysay Award for “greatness of spirit shown in service of the people”, the Millennium prize, by UNIFEM (the United Nations Development Fund for Women) in collaboration with the non-governmental organisation International Alert, the Freedom of Worship Medal for her human rights and religious freedom activism in a ceremony held in the Nieuwe Kerk in Holland, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, the second highest civilian award of Pakistan and the 2010 UNESCO/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of a Culture of Human Rights, recognizing her efforts as a human rights defender. (via womenwhokickass)
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