The lecture is organized under the honorary patronage of the Rector of Warsaw University and Dean of the Faculty of Law and Administration Warsaw University. The lecture will take place on 4 November 2009 in the Building of Old Library of Warsaw University.

Asma Jahangir (born January 27, 1952 in Lahore) is a Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist. She has been the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief since 2004 (first attached to the former Commission on Human Rights, now to the Human Rights Council). Previously, she served as the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Summary Executions.

She completed her BA from Kinnaid College, Lahore, her law degree in 1978, and her LLB from Punjab University. She also holds an honorary Doctorate from the University of Saint Gallen in Switzerland.

She has spent her career defending the human rights of women, religious minorities, and children of Pakistan. She is a founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and has served as Secretary-General and later Chair of the organization.

In 1980, Jahangir and her sister, Hina Jilani, got together with fellow activists and lawyers to form the first law firm established by women in Pakistan. They also helped form the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) that same year. The first WAF demonstration was in 1983, when some 25-50 women took to the streets protesting the Safia Bibi case.

In 1986 Jahangir and Hina set up AGHS Legal Aid, the first free legal aid centre in Pakistan. The AGHS Legal Aid Cell in Lahore also runs a shelter for women, called ‘Dastak’.

In 1982 Jahangir earned the nickname “little heroine” after leading a protest march in Islamabad against a decision by then-president Zia ul Haq to enforce religious laws and stated: “Family laws [which are religious laws] give women few rights” and that “They have to be reformed because Pakistan cannot live in isolation. We cannot remain shackled while other women progress.”

She is also a proponent of protecting the rights of persecuted religious minorities in Pakistan and speaks out against forced conversions.

In her capacity as a UN official, Jahangir was in Pakistan, when a President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in 2007. On November 5, 2007, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour indicated that Jahangir was among the judicial and political officials detained by the Musharraf government.

On November 5, 2007, The Economist reported that: “Over 500 lawyers, opposition politicians and human rights activists have been arrested. They include Asma Jahangir, boss of the country’s human-rights commission and a former UN special rapporteur. In an e-mail from her house arrest, where she has been placed for 90 days, Ms Jahangir regretted that General Musharraf had “lost his marbles”.

Jahangir is the author of many publications and 2 books, “Divine Sanction? The Hudood Ordinance” (1988, 2003) and “Children of a Lesser God: Child Prisoners of Pakistan” (1992).

In 1995, Jahangir received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders as well as the Ramon Magsaysay award for “greatness of spirit shown in service of the people”.

In 2001 Jahangir and Hina Jilani were awarded the Millennium prize, by UNIFEM (the United Nations Development Fund for Women) in collaboration with the non-governmental organisation International Alert.

In 2002 she was awarded the Lisl and Leo Eitinger Prize. In 2005 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1000 Women for Peace project.

(Biography – source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asma_Jahangir)