Asma Jahangir to Deliver Gruber Lecture on September 12
Dr. Asma Jahangir, co-founder of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, will deliver the 2016 Gruber Distinguished Lecture in Women’s Rights at Yale Law School on Monday, September 12, at 4:30 pm. Jahangir, who is a Pakistani human rights lawyer and activist, will speak on “Empowering the Disadvantaged: Bonded Labour, Women, and the Role of Human Rights.”
“In the half century or more since Pakistan’s independence, much has changed for the better and for the worse,” said Jahangir. “This lecture will focus on the situation of bonded labour and women (and their intersections). While the lecture attends to the case of Pakistan, the lessons learned have relevance across the region and globally.”
In addition to the lecture, there will be a roundtable discussion with Dr. Jahangir the following day in the Faculty Lounge and a Head of College’s Tea at Ezra Stiles.
Asma Jahangir was elected President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan in 2011 and was twice elected as Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Jahangir is also a Director of the AGHS Legal Aid Cell, which provides free legal assistance to the needy and was instrumental in the formation of the Punjab Women Lawyers Association in 1980 and the Women Action Forum in 1985.
She was placed under house arrest and later imprisoned for participating in the movement to restore political and fundamental rights under the military regime in 1983.
She has authored two books and five papers. She has been the recipient of a number of international and national awards, among them the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1995. In 1998, Asma was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Execution of the Commission on Human Rights, and in 2004 she was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief of the Council of Human Rights.
The Gruber Program for Global Justice and Women's Rights is a Yale University Program administered by Yale Law School. It was established in 2011 by philanthropists Peter and Patricia Gruber as part of the Gruber Foundation.
