Parvez Imroz is a Kashmiri human rights lawyer and a civil rights activist in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Jammu and Kashmir, India.
He is the founder and President of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) that works to build local alliances between Kashmiri civil society groups, runs advocacy campaigns, documents rights violations and provides legal assistance to victims. [1] [2] He is also convener of International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir alongside Angana Chatterji, Gautam Navlakha and Zaheer-Ud-Din. [3]
He has filed thousands of habeas corpus actions on behalf of families who claimed their relatives had vanished while in the custody of the Indian security forces. In 2008, along with his team, he first discovered the huge number of mass graves in J&K. Reportedly his group exposed more than 7,000 mass graves in the region over the years, on which no action has yet been taken by the government. [4] [2]
He was awarded the eleventh Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize by Human Rights Institute of The Bar of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France and the European Bar Human Rights Institute (IDHAE) in 2006, that was first given to Nelson Mandela. [5] In 2017, he was awarded the Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize for Human Rights along with Parveena Ahanger. [6] [7] [8]
Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) is a group of organizations and individuals in Jammu and Kashmir whose main focus of area is human rights in Jammu and Kashmir. It was founded on 20 June 2000. The society consists of individuals like Parvez Imroz (founder and President) and Khurram Parvez, and organisations like Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), Public Commission on Human Rights (PCHR) and the International Peoples’ Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir (IPTK). [9] [10]
Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society is a regular opinion leader and their statements are featured in various articles related to issues in Jammu and Kashmir. JKCCS also comes out with various reports, and conducts documentation and legal proceedings related to human rights issues in Jammu and Kashmir. [11] [12] [13]
Members of JKCCS have won various domestic and international awards for human rights work done in Jammu and Kashmir such as Khurram Parvez who won the Reebok Human Rights Award in 2006, [14] and other members of JKCCS are well known human rights defenders such as Natasha Rather, a Front Line Defender, who also co-authored the book 'Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora?'. [10]
The organization was awarded the 23rd Tji Hak-soon Justice and Peace Prize for work on protection of human rights and promoting justice and peace. [15]
The Rafto Foundation for Human Rights was established in 1986 in memory of Thorolf Rafto, a professor of economic history at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) and a human rights activist. The main objective of the Rafto Foundation is the promotion of freedom of political expression and enterprise. The work of the foundation consists of different educational and informative projects, including the annual award of the Rafto Prize (Raftoprisen) each November. The foundation is based in Bergen, Norway and run by a small team of professionals and volunteers.
The insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, also known as the Kashmir insurgency, is an ongoing separatist militant insurgency against the Indian administration in Jammu and Kashmir, a territory constituting the southwestern portion of the larger geographical region of Kashmir, which has been the subject of a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947.
Amarnath Temple is a Hindu shrine located in the Pahalgam tehsil of the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is a cave situated at an altitude of 3,888 m (12,756 ft), about 168 km from Anantnag city, the district headquarters, 141 km (88 mi) from Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, reached through either Sonamarg or Pahalgam. It is an important shrine in Hinduism.
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, and also between China and India in the northeastern portion of the region. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claimed the entirety of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a dispute over the region that escalated into three wars between India and Pakistan and several other armed skirmishes. India controls approximately 55% of the land area of the region that includes Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, most of Ladakh, the Siachen Glacier, and 70% of its population; Pakistan controls approximately 30% of the land area that includes Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan; and China controls the remaining 15% of the land area that includes the Aksai Chin region, the mostly uninhabited Trans-Karakoram Tract, and part of the Demchok sector.
Tyndale Biscoe School is a school in the Sheikh Bagh neighbourhood, in the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. The school was founded in 1880 CE and is one of the oldest schools in Jammu and Kashmir, the oldest being S.P school which was founded in 1874 CE. The school was started by Christian missionaries and was named after Canon Cecil Tyndale-Biscoe (1863–1949). It still has affiliations with the Church Mission Society. The first principal was Reverend J.H.Knowles.
Jacques Ludovic Trarieux was a French Republican statesman, lawyer, prominent Dreyfusard, and pioneer of international human rights.
The Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize, or Ludovic Trarieux Award, is an international human rights award given annually to a lawyer for contributions to the defence of human rights.
Fathi Terbil, also romanized as Fatih Turbel, is a Libyan lawyer and human rights activist and member of the National Transitional Council representing Libyan youth. He represents the relatives of over 1,000 prisoners killed by Libyan security forces in Abu Salim Prison in 1996. He is also the Youth and Sports Minister for the Interim Government.
Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir range from mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech. The Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Border Security Personnel (BSF) have been accused of committing severe human rights abuses against Kashmiri civilians. According to Seema Kazi, militant groups have also been held responsible for similar crimes, but the vast majority of abuses have been perpetrated by the armed forces of the Indian government.
Human rights abuses in Kashmir have been perpetrated by various belligerents in the territories controlled by both India and Pakistan since the two countries' conflict over the region began with their first war in 1947–1948, shortly after the partition of British India. The organized breaches of fundamental human rights in Kashmir are tied to the contested territorial status of the region, over which India and Pakistan have fought multiple wars. More specifically, the issue pertains to abuses committed in Indian-administered Kashmir and in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir (IPTK) is a People's Tribunal formed by Indian human rights activists for the purpose of probing human right violations in the Indian-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir, and bridging the gap between people living in Kashmir and rest of India. It was first convened in 2008 by Parvez Imroz, Angana P. Chatterji, Gautam Navlakha and Zaheer-Ud-Din. Chatterji served as convener until December 2012.
Gautam Navlakha is an Indian human rights activist, journalist, and prisoner. He has written on left-wing extremism and is a critic of army and state atrocities in Kashmir. He is a member of People's Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi. He is also an editorial consultant of the Economic and Political Weekly. He resides in New Delhi.
Parveena Ahangar is the Founder and Chairperson of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in Jammu and Kashmir.
Wang Yu is a Chinese human rights lawyer. She was arrested by Chinese authorities in 2015 when China initiated the 709 Crackdown against human rights attorneys. She was charged with inciting subversion of state power which is a serious offense in China carrying a life sentence. She was awarded an International Women of Courage Award in 2021.
Khurram Parvez is a Kashmiri human rights activist. He is the chairperson of Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and the program coordinator of Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society. Khurram is a recipient of the 2006 Reebok Human Rights Award. Parvez was included in Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2022.
The Kashmir conflict has been beset by large scale usage of sexual violence by multiple belligerents since its inception.
Media in Jammu and Kashmir comprises a diverse landscape of print, electronic and digital media outlets. The region is served by a variety of newspapers, television channels, radio stations, and online news platforms, reflecting the cultural and linguistic diversity of the area.
Mass graves of Jammu and Kashmir are mass grave sites in Jammu and Kashmir that were created as a result of extra-judicial killings during the Insurgency in Kashmir. An ad-hoc inquiry led by human rights lawyer, Parvez Imroz, has found more than 6,000 unmarked and mass graves.
Irfan Mehraj is an Indian journalist and human rights activist from Kashmir. He works with Deutsche Welle and also writes for various publications like The Indian Express, TRT World, The Wire, The Caravan, Himal Southasian and NewArab. Irfan has specially written about the challenges facing the Muslim community in Kashmir. He was the Editor of Two Circles and the founding editor of Wande Magazine.