In 1999, a group of like-minded individuals came together to set up a human rights organization. It was around about the time, when there were very few organizations openly and actively working on promoting and protecting human rights. During this time a number of human rights violations were taking place and citizens felt vulnerable and unprotected. There was a dire need to intervene and provide
assistance to citizens whose rights had been violated in one way or the other. The like-minded individuals had previously worked in the development sector with various NGOs and were able to share a variety of expertise and experience. They together established PIHRO as an independent non-profit, non-political and non-governmental organization with the aim of promoting and protecting human rights with a particular emphasis of working with vulnerable groups, such as women, children and refugees. PIHRO once established continued to work on a number of human rights cases and also focused on health care by waging war against HIV/AIDS and drug abuse. It promoted basic primary education with a particular emphasis on girl’s education, computer education, and environment protection and preservation. In January 2003, PIHRO was registered with The Islamabad Capital Territory Administration under The Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance 1961 (XLVI of 1961). PIHRO Today:
PIHRO recently updated its registration with The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan in August 2014. PIHRO has successfully been issued a licence under Section 42 of The Companies Ordinance, 1984. Its primary objectives are to promote and protect Human Rights and to help the poor and down trodden in securing their rights through advocacy, research, legal aid, financial assistance and measures aimed to help the society and the government in Pakistan to implement declarations, covenants, protocols and communiqués related to Human Rights. PIHRO continues to promote a unique holistic approach by combining human rights advocacy with physical development initiatives. By adopting this approach, PIHRO has achieved tremendous results to date, particularly in the most backward areas of the country, such as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. And this is all without taking or requesting a single penny from any donor agency, national or international. Rather, it is PIHROs members who have generously supported its initiatives with the help of the local communities PIHRO continues to serve. From a modest start in 1999, the Organization has been extending its activities and has already set up a number of branches, not only in the four provinces of Pakistan but also in FATA, Northern Areas and Azad Jammu & Kashmir. The aim is to extend the activities of the Organization throughout Pakistan, initially, to every district headquarters and later to sub-district level and to involve in positive work the youth, who are the future custodians of the country. A civilized society can only exist when the citizens of the state know their rights, respect their rights and fulfill their own obligation to society. It therefore follows that knowledge of human right and dignity is the very basic of a civilized and democracies states. At the moment PIHRO is busy working on human rights protection, education, health, women empowerment, food security, disaster and emergency response, water environment and sanitation and with refugees.
