Who We Are

Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) was founded in 2000. We are an amalgam of various non-funded, non-profit, campaign, research and advocacy organizations based in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. JKCCS through its constituents seeks to speak truth to power whether through reports, programmes, systematic documentation, litigation or other engagements in Jammu and Kashmir and outside.

JKCCS believes that a vibrant civil society and institution building is essential for any society, particularly Jammu and Kashmir. JKCCS maintains that the people of Jammu and Kashmir should enjoy all the internationally guaranteed civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights including the right to self-determination. It is in this context that JKCCS was formed as political freedom must not arrive in a vacuum but must be supported by pre-existing non-state institutions. Reinforcement of civil society is necessary to protect human rights, and the culture of intolerance is to be replaced by culture of dialogue and understanding for ensuring peace and democracy. JKCCS aims through its work to engage with issues of importance on a civil society level, monitor and investigate human right abuses, and seek truth, justice and reparations.

The present constituents of JKCCS are:

Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP)

Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) was established in 1994, when a large number of parents/relatives of disappeared persons used to visit the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to file or to pursue Habeas Corpus petitions. It was felt that there was a need for a collective to campaign on the issue of disappearances – whether in the courts or otherwise. APDP is technically not a human right group but an association of persons demanding the truth and whereabouts of the disappeared. Any family member of a disappeared person can be a member of the association.

Public Commission on Human Rights (PCHR)

Public Commission on Human Rights (PCHR) is an independent human rights organization founded in 2002 by Advocate Parvez Imroz . PCHR is a reconstituted outfit of a human rights organization, Kashmir Monitor, which has been working in Kashmir since 1994. PCHR has been documenting human rights violations and disseminating the information through its monthly newsletter “The Informative Missive.” Most of the information published in the newsletter is first hand, collected by the various fact-finding teams constituted by PCHR. Besides documentation, the commission also provides free legal assistance to victims of human rights violations.

International Peoples’ Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir (IPTK).

The International Peoples’ Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian- administered Kashmir (IPTK) was founded in April 2008. IPTK seeks to examine charges of structural and institutionalized violence in Jammu and Kashmir and engage with the international community.

Please see www.kashmirprocess.org for more details.

Affiliation

Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)

- Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) (http://www.afad-online.org/). Founded in 1998, AFAD is a human rights federation of organizations campaigning against enforced disappearances in Asia. The main object of AFAD is to build, develop and promote international solidarity among organizations of families of disappeared within Asia, and to work for the adoption of international instruments in the United Nations and Inter-American systems aimed at preventing enforced disappearances. Formally, APDP is a member of AFAD.

Coordination of Democratic Rights Organizations (CDRO)

Coordination of Democratic Rights Organizations (CDRO) (http://www.pudr.org/?q=content/about-cdro). Formed in August 2007, CDRO is a coalition of around 20 civil and democratic organizations that campaign collectively against Indian State violence. Formally, PCHR is a member of CDRO.

Armed Conflict Resolutions and People’s Rights Project

Armed Conflict Resolutions and People’s Rights Project (http://nonprofit.haas.berkeley.edu/research/acr.html), Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. The Project focuses on internal armed conflict and mass social violence and seeks to define steps in reparatory and transitional justice.

People

List Of Members

WhatsApp Image 2018-01-13 at 10.32.00 AM

Advocate Parvez Imroz

President

Advocate Parvez Imroz is a human rights lawyer and defender. Imroz was the eleventh recipient of the Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize by Human Rights Institute of The Bar of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France and the European Bar Human Rights Institute. In November 2017, Imroz was awarded the Rafto Prize.

Zahir-ud- Din

Vice-President

Zahir-ud- Din is a human rights defender, writer and journalist. A senior journalist, presently serving as Editorial Advisor for a Kashmiri daily, he is the author of numerous publications.

Khurram Pervez

Programme Coordinator

Khurram Parvez is a human rights defender. Parvez was the recipient of the 2006 Reebok Human Rights Award. Parvez presently serves as the Chairperson of the Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD).

What We Do

Research & Documentation

We conduct extensive research, fact-finding, systematic documentation and collation of data on human rights issues.

Legal Assistance

Advocate Parvez Imroz leads the litigation practice of JKCCS, which is almost entirely a human rights practice primarily before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Srinagar. We file complaints before the State Human Rights Commission on different cases of human rights violations.

Advocacy

JKCCS with its constituent’s campaigns against the phenomenon of enforced disappearances, illegal detentions, torture, extra-judicial executions, sexual violence, unmarked/mass graves and seeks impartial investigations into all cases of human rights abuses, prosecution of perpetrators and justice/reparations to the victims of conflict.