Geneva: The Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC) on Wednesday hosted a conference on Balochistan outside the United Nations building in Geneva. The conference entitled, “Genocide in Balochistan and the role of the international community” highlighted the unabated grave violations of human rights in Balochistan by the religious states of Pakistan and Iran and expressed concern over the silence of the international community on these states’ crimes against humanity and genocide in Balochistan which according to the participants has encouraged these states to continue their repressive policies against the Baloch without the fear of legal repercussions. 

Testimonies of families of the victims of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings were played in the conference along with a short documentary providing a historical context of the prevailing human rights situation in Balochistan.

A distinguished panel of journalists, human rights defenders and policymakers participated in the conference and demanded that the international community should play a more engaging role in the peaceful resolution of the Baloch conflict with Iran and Pakistan.

Testimonies of #missingpersons families being played out at the @BALOCHHRC event to raise awareness about human rights abuse by Pakistani state in #Balochistan. #StopBalochGenocide. The case of @QadeerMama son who was abducted, tortured and his dead body dumped was mentioned too. pic.twitter.com/f2BXqr4NmY

— Taha Siddiqui (@TahaSSiddiqui) March 11, 2020

The prominent among the speakers were Taha Siddiqui, Ryszard Czarnecki, Dr Lakhu Luhana, Aasha Khosa, Hatim Baloch, Baseer Naweed, Jamshaid Amiri and Hassan Hamdam. Qambar Malik Baloch moderated the session while Hassan Hamdam chaired the conference. Ryszard Czarnecki the member of the European Parliament was the chief guest of the conference.

In a series of tweets, Taha Siddiqui slammed Pakistan military over its dirty role in Balochistan. He briefed the audience about how the mainstream media in Pakistan is strictly controlled by the military establishment who have imposed a media blackout in Balochistan to hide their crimes from the rest of the world.

Guhraam Baloch, a human rights activist from the Netherlands read the conference declaration, summarizing the conclusion of the conference that affirmed the following.

• The conference demands that the international community and the United Nations must as a legal and moral obligation come forward to the rescue of the Baloch and must exert meaningful pressure on Pakistan to stop the physical and cultural genocide of the Baloch without delay.
• The conference demands that the enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killing of Baloch socio-political workers and human rights defenders must stop, and all the perpetrators of human rights violations must be tried in the International Court of Justice. 
• The conference demands that every kind of resource exploitation by China and Pakistan in Balochistan must be stopped 
• This conference while expressing concerns over the silence of the international community and the United Nations on crimes against humanity and genocide in Balochistan perpetrated by Iran and Pakistan, demands that a UN fact-finding mission must be sent to Balochistan to ascertain the extent of the human rights and humanitarian challenges facing the people of Balochistan.
• The conference while affirming that the Baloch national struggle for the right to self-determination is in accord with the spirits of the UN Declarations on the colonized nations, demands that it must be acknowledged and recognized without further delays.

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