Zohra Yusuf (born 2 May 1950) is an

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

professional, an

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

and a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

who is lauded for her work in

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

and media. She is the former Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

Education

Zohra graduated from Holy Cross College,

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

(now

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Career

After graduating, Zohra Yusuf started work as an editor and later became the general manager of

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

department in the ''Dawn'' group of newspapers. From 1971 to 1981 she worked at MNJ Communications as an advertiser. During the 1980s, she became an editor for ''The Star'', a weekend newsletter. She joined Spectrum Communication Y&R as creative director in 1986. She later became a chief creative officer of Y&R. Yusuf was a council member of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development for six years. She has also served as a bureau member of the South Asia Forum for Human Rights organization and was a board member of the

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is an independent, non-partisan and nonprofit international non-governmental organisation which works towards the practical realisation of human rights in the countries of the Commonwealth. CH ...

for seven years. In 1988, Yusuf joined the

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan ( ur, ) (HRCP) is an independent, democratic non-profit organisation. Founded in 1987, it is one of the oldest human rights organisations in the country. HRCP is committed to monitoring, protecting a ...

(HRCP); a non-profit member organization of the

International Federation for Human Rights The International Federation for Human Rights (french: Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme; FIDH) is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the third oldest international h ...

(FIDH). In 1990, she was elected council member and served as vice-chairperson as well as secretary-general. In 2011, Yusuf became the chairperson of HRCP before becoming chairperson in 2011. Yusuf was also elected Vice President of FIDH in 2013. She was re-elected Co-chairperson of HRCP for the 2014–16 term. Yusuf is also a freelance writer and has contributed to many books, journals and newspapers on topics such as media and conflict resolution, feminism and women's rights.

Activism

Zohra Yusuf is an advocate of

and media. She is particularly known for her advocacy for

and her associations with women organizations. In 1979, Yusuf joined the

Shirkat Gah Shirkat Gah women's resource centre, is a women's rights organization in Pakistan which focuses on research, publications and advocacy on women's issues. History Shirkat Gah was established in 1975 by Najma Sadeque (journalist, human rights activ ...

; an organization created for women's rights in 1975. This was where Yusuf started her work in activism. Joining the Shirkat Gah, Yusuf became one of the founding members of

Women's Action Forum Women's Action Forum (WAF) is a women's rights organization in Pakistan. History Women's Action Forum (WAF) was established in Karachi in September, 1981 Hudood Ordinance The Hudood Ordinances (Urdu ; also Romanized Hadood, Hadud, Hudud; singular form is ''Hadh'' or ''hadd'') are laws in Pakistan that were enacted in 1979 as part of then military ruler Zia-ul-Haq's "Islamisation" process. It replaced parts of the ...

rule during the

Zia Zia or ZIA (also spelled Ziya, Ḍiya , Dia or Diya) may refer to: People * Zia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** A romanization of the Wu ( Shanghainese) pronunciation of the Chinese surname Xie (謝) ...

regime. The man (Allah Buksh) was sentenced to be stoned to death and the woman (Fehmida), who was a minor, was awarded 100 lashes in public. The judgement brought different women organizations together, namely Shirkat Gah,

Tehrik-e-Niswan Tehrik-e-Niswan ( ur, ) (The Women’s Movement) is a women's organization in Pakistan. Tehrik-e-Niswan was formed in 1979 in Karachi, Sindh by Sheema Kermani. Tehrik-e-Niswan was founded in 1979 to use the performing arts as a medium for giving ...

All Pakistan Democratic Women’s Association All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

, APWA. The organizations formed a coalition and the Women's Action Forum was created. Yusuf along with other activists, participated in the WAF meetings and protests organized in Lahore. She also published articles in ''The Star'', decrying the verdict. Yusuf has also published many articles on media censorship, women's rights and human rights in the ''Dawn'' and ''

The Express Tribune ''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the '' Daily Express'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliated newspaper in a partnership with the ''Interna ...

'' newspapers.

Awards

Zohra Yusuf received the

All Pakistan Newspapers Society All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) is an organization of major Pakistani newspapers, their publishers, companies, and corporations. It includes the Jang Group of Newspapers, Dawn Group of Newspapers, and Nawa-i-Waqt Group of Newspapers. ...

award in 2011 for "TV Channels or Electronic Pulpits", featured in '' Newsline''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yusuf, Zohra Living people 1950 births Pakistani women's rights activists Pakistani women Pakistani human rights activists Pakistani feminists Pakistani humanists