‘Women as architects of the UDHR’: Honouring Asma Jahangir

Press release

‘Women as architects of the UDHR’: Honouring Asma Jahangir

Lahore, 19 December 2018. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is extremely proud that its co-founder, Asma Jahangir, has been honoured posthumously with the UN Human Rights Prize. The prestigious UN Prize in the Field of Human Rights has been awarded jointly to Ms Jahangir, Rebeca Gyumi (a Tanzanian women’s rights activist), Joenia Wapichana (a Brazilian activist for the rights of indigenous communities) and Front Line Defenders (an Irish-based human rights organization). HRCP would like to express its warmest congratulations to each of them.

Asma Jahangir’s daughter, HRCP Council member Munizae Jahangir, accepted the prize on her mother’s behalf at the United Nations General Assembly in New York yesterday. This is the tenth award of the prize, coinciding this year with the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Having founded the first legal aid centre in Pakistan in 1986, Ms Jahangir courageously took on and won complicated cases ranging from legislation against bonded labour to cases involving blasphemy and rape. She has been threatened, assaulted in public and placed under house arrest for defending human rights. She was elected the first female President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan, and co-founded and was the first chairperson of HRCP. Ms Jahangir has also served as the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions, then as the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, and subsequently as the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The prize is awarded every five years for outstanding achievements in the field of human rights. As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on the occasion, women have always played ‘a central role as architects of the UDHR, which has inspired billions of us around the globe to stand up for human rights… We honour these courageous women who, every day, defend our dignity and rights.’

UN Secretary General António Gutteres stated that, in paying tribute to Asma Jahangir and others whose work was dangerous, it was integral to remember that ‘they continued to shine some light in dark parts of the world. We salute them all.’

 

Dr Mehdi Hasan

Chairperson

Category: English