Khalida Ghous


Khalida Ghous or Khalida Ghaus is an eminent scholar of International Relations & Human Rights and a prominent activist from Pakistan, who holds the distinguished honour of being First PhD in Human Rights from her country. Currently she is the managing director of Social Policy and Development Center, a Karachi based Pakistani research center of international repute.

Education

Khalida holds MA & PhD degrees in International Relations from University of Karachi. She did her PhD under the supervision of eminent jurist and scholar Khalid M. Ishaq on the Institutionalization of Human Rights with the particular reference to the European Court of Human Rights.

Career

Being one of the senior Professors, Dr. Ghous has completed her first term as Chairperson of the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi from September 2003 to September 2006 & now on a long leave from university. She has also remained Director of the Center of Excellence for Women's Studies University of Karachi. She also serves as the Honorary Director of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and the Honorary Director of the Pakistani Center for Democracy Studies. She has been a delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights & was invited by European Union to deliver a talk in Brussels. Dr. Ghous has been teaching Human Rights & Foreign Policy Analysis for more than twenty years, and has written extensively on the subjects. Having a book and monograph to her credit,
she has also been involved in the policy-making both with the Federal and Provincial Governments on gender-related issues. She is a member of several professional bodies and is a nominee of the Sindh Government in the monitoring committee constituted on Women Empowerment. She also teaches at the distinguished Institute of Business Administration, Karachi & gives lectures in renowned institutions of country & abroad. Human Rights, Far East and Pakistan's Foreign Policy are her areas of interest. Her other interests include Women Rights and Gender Issues. Dr. Ghous has extensively published in internationally acclaimed journals, contributed articles in many books, and completed several research projects. She has participated and organised many National & International Seminars & Conferences and delivered lectures in American Universities as guest speaker and various Staff Colleges at home. She is regularly invited by the television channels to give her expert opinion on the issues of International Relations & societal/gender issues. She has guided many students for M.Phil./PhD degrees & herself remained research fellow of some distinguished institutes of the world. She is author of a book on "Rights of Women in Islam", and co-editor of 'Pakistan's Foreign Policy: Problems and Prospects’.

Activism and Track II Diplomacy

Dr. Khalida is deeply involved in the Pakistan-India back channel diplomacy being an active member of India-Pakistan Neemrana initiative. Many of her important suggestions were considered by Indo-Pak governments.
In 2006, Khalida Ghous was one of the 18 prominent people who sent an open letter to President Pervez Musharraf, calling on him to resign either as President or as Chief of Army Staff.

Books