Policy makers, legislators, researchers, lawyers, judges, civil society organisations and activists who participated in a seminar organised by National Commission on the Status on Women entitled "Combating Violence: Ending Impunity" underlined the need for the protection of women rights, combating violence and the way forward for ending impunity.
I A Rehman, Director, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in his key note speech said that we need to locate violence against women in the context of violence in Pakistan. He pointed to increase violence against women stating that out of 839 reported cases, 75 percent of girls were killed on the name of honour killing. There is no representation of women in Jirga for decision making, he added.
Amar Sindhu, Convenor Women Action Forum, Hyderabad said that Jirga has illegal authorities for deciding women related issues. Senator Afrasiab Khattak said that our neighbouring country Afghanistan has representation of women in Jirga so should Pakistan.
Bushra Gohar, Vice President, Awami National Party emphasised that Jirga should be a consultative forum and shouldn't have judicial power as it doesn't tackle with women issues fairly, adding that women don't have representation in political system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
"Only 11 percent of ever married women owned a house. 45 percent of acid attack victims cannot register cases because of social and political barriers. 79.4 percent of violence is in the name of intimate partner" said Samar Minallah Khan, Anthropologist and Documentary Filmmaker in her documentary on the Embedded Biases in Culture.
Divorce and marriage laws are revised and sent to provincial levels, said Barrister Zafarullah Khan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs, adding legal aid for the protection of women right as well as national women's empowerment package is in the process of approval from the Prime Minister and will be officially announced soon.
President Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA), Zia Awan, emphasised on the need for building and strengthening institutions for implementation of laws. He regretted the expenses incurred in court cases and proposed free legal aid for women. Saira Afzal Tarrar, State Minister of Health/National Health Regulation and Member National Commission on the Status of Women, said that because of social taboos women are reluctant to go to courts for their right.-PR
Comments
Comments are closed.