51st session of UNHRC: Baloch rights group to organize 3-day exhibition on enforced disappearances
Sep 15, 2022
Paris [France], September 15 : Baloch Voice Association, NGO based in Paris, France is organizing a three-day banner and poster exhibition about the enforced disappearances in Balochistan from September 19th to 21st 2022 in front of the Human Rights Commission in Geneva on the occasion of its 51st session.
"At occasion of #UN 51st #HRC #BVA is organizing a Three Days Banner and poster exhibition about #EnforcedDisappearances in Balochistan from 19th Sept to 21 Sept 2022 at front #UNGENEVA," tweeted Munir Mengal, President of Baloch Voice Association.
Notably, earlier, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed alarm over reports of a fresh wave of enforced disappearances in Balochistan and the rest of Pakistan.
Experts believe that the missing persons may be dead or their mutilated bodies dumped into ditches and may be locked in some detention centres.
The 51st regular session of the Human Rights Council is being organized from September 12 to October 7, 2022 in Geneva.
In June this year, Doda Ellahi and Ghamshad Baloch -- students of Karachi University's Philosophy Department allegedly taken away from their house. The students belonging to the Kech district of Balochistan went missing on June 7.
"#Balochstudents become posters on wall due to #EnforcedDisappearances.The two students of KU's Philosophy Dept. -- Doda Baloch and Ghamshad Baloch were taken away from their home near Maskan Chowrangi #karachi on June 7 and till date their whereabouts are unknown.#UNO," tweeted Mengal.
The constant reports of enforced disappearances in Pakistan have raised questions over the role of the special committee, constituted by the former chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, which was supposed to investigate such cases.
People being forcibly disappeared is a severe and longstanding issue in Pakistan.
Hundreds of thousands of people from all spheres of life started to disappear. In March 2011, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIOED) was formed to work on the issue.
According to recent figures released by COIOED in July 2022, a total of 8,696 missing person cases have been reported. While 6,513 of these cases have been solved, 2,219 are still pending, as per DW news.
Despite efforts by civil society, there is no end to the issue of enforced disappearances in Pakistan, as the State continues to use it with impunity.
The irony is that successive Pakistan governments have pledged to end the practice of enforced disappearances, however, there is no end to it, reported Canada-based think tank, International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS).
