Senator Mushahid elected vice president of IPU Human Rights body

ISLAMABAD: Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who represents Asia in the Committee of Human Rights for Parliamentarians (CHRP) of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), was unanimously elected as Vice President of the Committee at its meeting in Geneva.

Meanwhile, Millie Odhiambo of Kenya was elected as president of the body.

Senator Mushahid’s appointment marks a historic moment as he becomes the first parliamentarian from Pakistan to hold a high-ranking office within a key body of the IPU, a global organisation that represents parliamentary bodies worldwide.

Two years prior, at the IPU General Assembly in Rwanda, Senator Mushahid Hussain was elected as a member of the CHRP, the only Asian in this important 10-member committee.

Hussain, who is a member of the Senate Human Rights Committee, served as Leader of the Pakistan Delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

In the year 2000, Mushahid Hussain was honoured by being declared a ‘Prisoner of Conscience’ by the prestigious London-based organization ‘Amnesty International’ due to his illegal detention without charges for 440 days; he was the only Pakistani political prisoner to be so honoured then.

He is also convenor of the Pakistan Parliamentary Forum on PKR (Palestine, Kashmir, and Rohingya), and he also serves on the Executive Board of the Istanbul-based ‘Al Quds Parliament’, supporting the Palestine Cause.