Mushahid Hussain is elected Vice President of the IPU Human Rights Body (Geneva, January 28): Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Asia’s representative on the Inter Parliamentary Union’s Committee on Human Rights for Parliamentarians (CHRP), was overwhelmingly elected Vice President of the Committee during its meeting in Geneva.

Ms Millie Odhiambo of Kenya was elected President. Senator Mushahid Hussain is the first Pakistani legislator to be elected to a high-level position in a crucial body of the International Parliamentary Union, a global organization that represents the world’s parliaments.

Ms Millie Odhiambo and Senator Mushahid Hussain

Senator Mushahid Hussain was elected as a member of the CHRP during the IPU General Assembly in Rwanda two years ago, making him the only Asian on this crucial 10-member committee.

Senator Mushahid Hussain, a member of the Senate Human Rights Committee, led Pakistan’s delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

Mushahid Hussain was named a ‘Prisoner of Conscience’ by the prominent London-based organization ‘Amnesty International’ in 2000 for his illegal arrest without charges for 440 days, making him the only Pakistani political prisoner to get this honor at the time. Senator Mushahid Hussain is also the Convenor of the Pakistan Parliamentary Forum on PKR (Palestine, Kashmir, and Rohingya), and he is on the Executive Board of the Istanbul-based ‘Al Quds Parliament’, which supports the Palestine Cause.