TODAY! Justice Mansoor Ali Shah (Supreme Court Justice of Pakistan) Guardians of Justice: The Supreme Court’s Role in Advancing and Safeguarding Fundamental Rights in Pakistan (Sept. 25, 2023)

Join us for a lecture by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Moderated by Adil Najam, Dean Emeritus at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and Professor of International Relations and of Earth and Environment.

With creativity and inventiveness, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has expanded the fundamental rights to life, liberty and dignity. Issues with regard to disability and minority rights, gender, environment, climate, privacy, surveillance, bail, blasphemy, public telecast of proceedings, virtual appearance in courts, institutional and educational autonomy are being interpreted more progressively. Reforms like setting up of the Gender Based Violence courts (GBV), child courts, connectivity and access to justice through video-linking and introduction of technology and artificial intelligence are bringing the court up to speed with its evolving jurisprudence.

Justice Shah will address the call for climate justice, which has challenged the anthropogenic paradigm, requiring a more biocentric approach to fundamental rights and to rephrase “human rights” to “rights of the living,” or “nature rights” by recognizing nature and the living beings on our planet as having legal rights which can be enforced in a court of law.