UN: Office of the High Commissioner: Pakistan: Journalists: Forced Disappearances

Pakistan

 

Since 2007, OHCHR has received numerous reports of abductions, disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Pakistan. 

In the past eight days alone, we have received reports on the killing of one journalist, Munir Shakir, in Baluchistan on 14 August 2011, and the disappearance of another journalist, Rehmatullah Darpakhel, three days earlier in North Waziristan on 11 August.

In March, the High Commissioner spoke out about the escalating trend of journalists, human rights defenders, and political activists in Baluchistan.

We call on all responsible parties to immediately stop such violations of human rights, and we urge the Government to take immediate steps to independently investigate these cases.

In response to a follow-up question about numbers of journalists killed and abducted:

Pakistan is cited by various journalist groups as one of the most dangerous if not the most dangerous place for journalists, with at least 16 killed in 2010. 

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 9 journalists have been killed in Pakistan so far in 2011 and none of the cases have been fully investigated.

In Baluchistan alone, there were disturbing reports that 25 people,including journalists, writers, and human rights defenders,have been extrajudicially killed within the first four months of 2011.

In June 2011, a report on Baluchistan by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan revealed 143 cases of disappearances, including journalists, as of May 2011. 

The same report indicated a list of 140 missing persons, including journalists, found dead in Baluchistan between July 2010 and May 2011, which is a very large number indeed.

 

Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:  Rupert Colville, Geneva

UN News Centre

United Nations Human Rights Pakistan 

Amal Mathluthi: My Word is Free

"I am those who are free and never fear, I am the secrets that will never die, I am the voice of those who would not give in, I am the meaning amid the chaos." 

- Amal Mathluthi - My Word is Free, Tunisia

January 14, 2011, Tunisia - Above the noise of the crowd, she sings for freedom. She says she is the secret of the red rose who calls the freemen. Whatever their faith, may God bless all those who seek their freedom throughout the world. And who sometimes have to fight for it. The language doesn't matter, listen to the spirit in the song.

I didn't know her name at the time, but I recognized the voice. It's the voice of freedom.

 

Amal Mathluthi - My Word is Free (Kelmti Horra)

I am those who are free and never fear
I am the secrets that will never die
I am the voice of those who would not give in
I am the meaning amid the chaos

I am the right of the oppressed
That is sold by these dogs (people who are dogs)
Who rob the people of their daily bread
And slam the door in the face of ideas

I am those who are free and never fear
I am the secrets that will never die
I am the voice those who would not give in
I am free and my word is free
I am free and my word is free
Don't forget the price of bread
And don't forget the cause of our misery
And don't forget who betrayed us in our time of need

I am those who are free and never fear
I am the secrets that will never die
I am the voice those who would not give in
I am the secret of the red rose
Whose color the years loved
Whose scent the rivers buried
And who sprouted as fire
Calling those who are free

I am a star shining in the darkness
I am a thorn in the throat of the oppressor
I am a wind touched by fire
I am the soul of those who are not forgotten
I am the voice of those who have not died

Let's make clay out of steel
And build with it a new love
That becomes birds
That becomes a country/home
That becomes wind and rain

I am all the free people of the world put together
I am like a bullet
I am all the free people of the world put together
I am like a bullet

English translation of lyrics by Chris
http://www.arabicmusictranslation.com/2011/01/amel-mathlouthi-my-word-is-free...

Amel Mathlouthi live à Bastille

Pendent le bàl african du 13 Julliet à Bastille

http://myspace.com/amelmathlou​thi

  

World Food Programme and The Horn of Africa

• WFP is rapidly moving life-saving food and nutritional products by sea, air and road to hungry populations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Djibouti to address the needs of the most vulnerable, especially young children and their mothers.

2011 World Food Progamme

• WFP is providing the right foods at the right time to prevent malnutrition in the first two years of life, which can lead to irreversible damage to children’s minds and bodies.

• WFP is working to strengthen the resilience of communities that live in drought-prone areas, working with governments and other agencies, using food assistance to support smallholder farmers and helping people to adapt to changes in weather patterns.


FACTS ABOUT WFP’S OPERATIONS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA:

• More than 11 million people need WFP food assistance in five countries.

• In Somalia, WFP is planning to feed 1.5 million people, including 300,000 in and around Mogadishu.

• WFP is looking at ways to reach a further 2.2 million in areas of the south that have been inaccessible since January 2010.

• WFP is reaching 3.7 million people in Ethiopia (including 226,000 refugees.)

• WFP is targeting 2.7 million people in Kenya (including 496,000 refugees.)

• WFP is also working in the Karamoja region of Uganda reaching 700,000 and in Djibouti (109,000.)

• The budget shortfall for WFP’s Horn of Africa operation for the next six months, taking pledges and confirmed contributions into account, is US $250 million.
• Operations in Somalia are among the highest risk in the world, with the loss of the lives of 14 relief workers since 2008.

• WFP is also providing emergency food assistance to 238,000 refugees, bringing the total number of people receiving food assistance in Ethiopia to 3.7 million.

• WFP is feeding 1.8 million people in Kenya (including 496,000 refugees). With additional resources and expected arrivals of commodities, Kenya CO will scale up to 2.7 million people in the coming weeks. The government of Kenya is feeding an additional 800,000.

• WFP is implementing blanket supplementary feeding for all children below 3 years in six Kenyan districts where malnutrition rates have been found to be well above the emergency threshold.

• Existing food and cash-for-asset activities to help people to be to be more resilient to future droughts have been scaled up to reach 760,000 people in arid areas.

• WFP is providing food assistance to about 496,000 refugees in Kenya. Approximately 417,000 are in Dadaab, near the Somalia border and about 80,000 in Kakuma (which hosts refugees from Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia.)




• WFP is scaling up general food distributions to around 100,000 people from this
month, increasing to 109,000 in September when schools re-open.

WFP will pursue efforts to mitigate risk, including thorough, robust assessments and monitoring, but we are calling on the international community to stand together in recognising the inevitable risks that will be present.

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