Defenders of human rights in Balochistan in need of defence

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to announce that a report on the situation of the human rights defenders of Balochistan has been uploaded on our website.
This report was compiled by Ms. Angelika Pathak, a London-based researcher who previously worked for Amnesty International as their Pakistan researcher. According to Ms. Pathak the report is divided in five parts: An introduction which explains the special protection under which human rights defenders were placed when in December 1998 the General Assembly (including Pakistan) adopted the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the first UN instrument that explicitly recognizes the importance and legitimacy of the work of human rights defenders and lays down their right to effective protection; in Balochistan many political activists could be understood as in some sense defending the rights of the Baloch but in the narrower sense the term is applicable only to journalists, lawyers and human rights activist.
- Attacks on newspapers, electronic media and abuses of individual journalist;
- Human rights abuses inflicted on lawyers
- Human rights abuses inflicted on human rights activists
- Recommendations to the federal government and the provincial government.
The executive summary of the report is given below and the full report may be seen at: http://www.humanrights.asia/news/press-releases/pdf/AHRC-PRL-035-2011-01.pdf