WASHINGTON – The American Bar Association has honoured former chief justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani with its 2023 ABA International Human Rights Award in recognition of his courageous judgments against “political impunity in a time of crisis and for defending judicial independence”.
The award was presented by ABA President Deborah Enix-Ross during a dinner at the ABA Annual Meeting in Denver.
Addressing the ceremony, Justice (retd) Tassaduq Hussain Jilani expressed his concern over hatred and crimes against Muslims and Christians on the basis of religion in different parts of the world, especially in occupied Kashmir and Indian city of Manipur.
The International Human Rights Award was established to honor and give public recognition to a lawyer, human rights luminary or international human rights organization that has made an exceptional contribution to the advancement of human rights outside of the United States. The award is given on behalf of the ABA Center for Human Rights, Section of International Law, Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, Section of Litigation and Rule of Law Initiative.
During his service as chief justice, Jillani took important and unprecedented measures to safeguard the rights of religious minorities, as defined in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, by issuing a ruling known as the Judgment on Minority Rights in 2014, which not only detailed the scope of the fundamental right to freedom of religion available to all religious minorities in the country but also outlined a strategy through which these rights may be fully realized in the Pakistani context.
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