A/HRC/60/62 16. Pakistan 86. On 7 October 2024, special procedure mandate holders addressed allegations of arbitrary travel restrictions against human rights defender Ms. Sammi Deen Baloch, that prevented her engagement with the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances and her participation in the 57th session of the Human Rights Council. Ms. Baloch is the General Secretary of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, a non-governmental organization that represents families of victims of enforced disappearance in Balochistan and has a history of engagement with the United Nations on this issue (PAK 4/2024). 87. Ms. Baloch had planned to travel to Geneva to meet with United Nations human rights experts in the context of the 134th session of the Working Group, scheduled from 16 to 25 September 2024 during 57th session of the Human Rights Council. On 8 September 2024, when presenting her passport to immigration officials at Karachi Airport, Ms. Baloch was reportedly told that her name had been put on an ‘Exit Control List’. Her passport was reportedly confiscated for at least four hours, and when it was returned, it contained an exit control stamp. Reportedly, Ms. Baloch decided not to attempt travelling again out of fear that her passport could be confiscated permanently (UA PAK 4/2024). 88. Mandate holders expressed concerns at the alleged arbitrary travel restrictions imposed against Ms. Baloch that prevented her engagement with the Working Group, which had been reported as an act of intimidation and reprisal for her international advocacy, including her engagement with the United Nations human rights mechanisms on the issue of enforced disappearances in Balochistan. They further noted that the travel prohibition against Ms. Sammi Deen Baloch creates a chilling effect in society, whereby individuals working for the rights of victims of human rights violations are dissuaded from doing so out of fear of reprisals. 89. On 26 March 2025, mandate holders issued a press release36 mentioning that two days earlier, Ms. Sammi Deen Baloch had been arrested alongside other human rights defenders by the Karachi Police as they protested police violence against the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a network advocating for the rights of the minority Baloch community. Her detention was allegedly ordered for 30 days under the Sindh Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO). Mandate holders called for the immediate release of. Ms. Saami Deen Baloch and other activists, including human rights defender Ms. Mahrang Baloch, leader of BYC. In a 26 March press release replying to the statement of mandate holders, the government alleged that “these elements are not mere protesters but active participants in a broader campaign of lawlessness and violence (...), operating in collusion with terrorists.”37 90. On 29 April 2025, mandate holders publicly stated that Pakistan appears to conflate legitimate human and minority rights advocacy and public demonstrations with terrorism, threatening freedoms of expression, assembly, and association.38 They expressed concern at the detention of BYC leaders and their supporters and actions against their family members and lawyers, noting these may amount to reprisals for their interaction with United Nations mechanisms.39 91. During the reporting period, mandate holders had also addressed other allegations concerning Ms. Sammi Deen Baloch, Ms. Marangh Baloch and BYC (PAK 6-2024, PAK 1/2025). Specifically, mandate holders raised concerns over the alleged use of force against peaceful demonstrations organised by the BYC, the misuse of certain administrative and legal counter-terrorism measures against Baloch activists and organizations, including the alleged designation of activists and individuals associated with BYC as “proscribed 36 https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/03/pakistan-un-experts-demand-release-baloch-humanrights-defenders-and-end. 37 Spokesperson’s Response to Questions about Statement by UN Human Rights Experts. 38 https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/un-experts-urge-pakistan-address-human-rightsviolations-balochistan. 39 https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/un-experts-urge-pakistan-address-human-rightsviolations-balochistan. 31