WILPF International on Death Plot against Human Rights Defender Asma Jahangir

WILPF Advocacy Documents

Date/month:

9 June 2012

Document type:

Open letter

On 4 June 2012, news was released of a death plot orchestrated by the Pakistani security forces against human rights lawyer and leading human rights defender Asma Jahangir. As agents of the State, such action would bring dishonour on the State of Pakistan.

WILPF calls upon the Pakistan authorities and leaders to ensure its compliance with its international human rights obligations and ensure that rights, of MS Jahangir, and all human rights defenders, are upheld.

Ms. Jahangir has been threatened many times in the past, however, this time the information was leaked from within Pakistan’s security infrastructure and is therefore believed to be credible and to be taken seriously. Jahangir contends that the plan to kill her had been driven at the “highest level” of state agencies, apparently angered by her recent efforts to highlight human rights violation by security forces in the restive province of Balochistan. Killings of human rights defenders in Pakistan have been on the rise over the last year, with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) implicated in many instances – including the killing of journalist Saleem Shahzad. Due to the real threat to Jahangir’s life, she is now forced to restrict her movements.

Ms. Jahangir has spent her 30 year career defending human and women rights, rights of religious minorities and vulnerable children in Pakistan. Her work has focused on fighting laws that punish victims of rape, deny women the right to divorce, encourage child labor and violate religious minorities’ freedom of speech. She has also campaigned against human rights abuses taking place in government and police custody in Pakistan including the fact that rape in police custody is widespread but vastly under-reported. She is a founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and has served as Secretary-General and later Chairperson of the organization. Internationally, Jahangir is recognized for her time served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur of Religion or Belief and as UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Summary Executions.

WILPF calls on the Pakistani authorities and leaders to take concrete action to honour their commitments to human rights. WILPF, with other human rights organisations, calls for a full and independent inquiry into the threats made, the identification of those responsible and the application of the appropriate legal sanction.

WILPF calls on the Human Rights Council and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to make all appropriate interventions to obtain assurances from the government of Pakistan that it will afford all necessary protection measures and report to the council the actions it is taking.

Please support Asma Jahangir and write immediately in English, Urdu, or your own language, calling on the Pakistan authorities to:

Immediately provide effective security to Asma Jahangir.

Promptly conduct a full investigation into alleged plot to kill her, including all individuals and institutions suspected of being involved, including the Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

Bring to justice all suspected perpetrators of attacks on human rights defenders, in trials that meet international fair trial standards and without recourse to the death penalty

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 19 JULY 2012 TO:

President

Asif Ali Zardari

President’s Secretariat

Islamabad, Pakistan

Email: (via web form)

Salutation: President

Prime Minister

Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani

Prime Minister House

Islamabad, Pakistan

Fax: +92 51 922 13780 or +92 51 922 1596

E-mail: secretary@cabinet.gov.pk

Salutation: Dear Prime Minister

Chief of Army Staff

General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani

c/o Inter Services Public Relations,

Hilal Road, Rawalpindi, 46000

Pakistan

Fax: +92-51-9271682

Salutation: General Kayani

Your donation isn’t just a financial transaction; it’s a step toward a more compassionate and equitable world. With your support, we’re poised to achieve lasting change that echoes through generations. Thank you!

Thank you!

Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region.

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

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Feminist peace

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.

WILPF Advocacy Documents