CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Centre For Human Rights

Introduction
Focus Areas
Director Message

All human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms. The United Nations is committed to upholding, promoting, and protecting the human rights of every individual. This commitment stems from the United Nations Charter (1947), which reaffirms the faith of the peoples of the world in fundamental human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person.

At the Centre for Human Rights (ZU-CHR), we are dedicated to using law and legal knowledge as powerful tools to advocate for, protect, and uphold these rights. Grounded in the principles outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we work to ensure that every individual is aware of their rights, actively promotes them, and contributes to a just and equitable society.

Through these initiatives, ZU-CHR collaborates with government bodies, NGOs, and international organisations to bring impactful change. By engaging in research, legal aid, and policy influence, we aim to be a catalyst for a more just and humane society.

To achieve our goals, we focus on four key areas:

Advocacy – Promoting human rights through legal and policy reform.
Peace & Conflict Studies – Addressing social conflicts and fostering dialogue.
Child Rights Programme – Ensuring the protection and well-being of children.
The Prison Project – Advocating for prison reforms and rehabilitation efforts.

Advocacy

The Advocacy for Human Rights works to create public policy that respects, protects, and fulfills human rights obligations in our home community and around the world.

Our Priorities

Our advocacy priorities are protecting the human rights of asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants; protecting the human rights of women and girls; supporting the work of human rights defenders and working to help incorporate international human rights standards in Pakistan.

Our Strategies

Using international human rights mechanisms, including those of the United Nations, to highlight human rights violations and advocate for policy change;

Advocating for public policy changes in Pakistan both on a local and national level on multiple platforms: media, talks, seminars, etc.
Providing direct legal advocacy in public litigation cases and supporting causes promoting human rights
Advancing our priorities by working in local, national, and international coalitions.

Peace & Conflict Studies

Peace and conflict studies is a social science field that identifies and analyzes violent and nonviolent behaviors as well as the structural mechanisms attending conflicts (including social conflicts), with a view towards understanding those processes which lead to a more desirable human condition.

Our Strategies

Promotion of Alternative Dispute Resolution particularly Mediation training and workshops
Conducting field studies to arriving at the heart of common conflicts within the general public in Pakistan – be it local or international
Regional emphasis on Afghanistan & India peace & conflict studies
De-radicalization efforts thru engagement with government institutions and NGOs in the promotion peace and dialogue

Child Rights Program

Children are the most vulnerable of all human beings and their protection is the utmost important as they are the future.

At ZU-CHR the Child Rights Program is geared to work with Child Protection Unit government bodies, orphanages, and adoption agencies for the active change and development in policies to enhance children rights.

Our Strategies

Promoting and advocating the Hague Convention Child protocols
Working with international adoption agencies and providing training to orphanages to secure children rights within institutions
Working in the sensitive are of street children and providing solutions protecting their rights
Conducting studies to tackle child abandonment and mechanisms to prevent trafficking

The Prison Project

Prisoner Rights has been a key area within Human Rights often neglected. Giving voice to the voiceless is an important element. Working with NGOs and government institutions to bring appropriate prison reform to enhance prisoner rights and help create a full rehabilitation program

Our Strategies

Prison Rehabilitation Programs promotion – particularly Bacha Jail
Legal Aid to pending cases
Jail visits and inspection reports to influence policy change
Focusing on international prisoners and their repatriation to their home countries

Half-way house and follow up after release

Law, human rights and Justice are fundamental institutions of the basic structure of society, therefore it is imperative that every institution of high-learning has a dedicated team which actively researches in the field of law, justice and particularly human rights. The Ziauddin Center for Human Rights (ZCHR) carries out cutting-edge research in Human Rights, International Law, Labor Laws, Refugee Law and Environmental Law and is integral to the academic missions of Ziauddin Law.

The team explores and seeks answers to legal questions such as evolving notion of state sovereignty, land grabbing in underdeveloped countries, Pakistan’s commitment to International Human Rights treaties, and progress in civil and political rights in Pakistan. The team also engages in active advocacy.

Advocate Syed Muaz Shah, Esq.

Centre For Human Rights

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