Eliminating violence against women: Pakistan’s slow, painful journey
Today, November 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
November 25, 2016
Today, November 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which is being observed worldwide to raise awareness about gender-based violence against women and girls.
Globally, one in three women experience sexual or physical violence. According to the World Health Organisation, violence against women takes the form of low education, child abuse, sexual abuse, torture and attitudes endorsing gender inequality.
IBTimes UK
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IBTimes UK
Violence against women in Pakistan
Pakistan is observing the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to reaffirm its commitments under its own Constitution. However, facts and statistics relating to violence against women in Pakistan paint a particularly grim picture.
One in five women face some form of gender-based violence in the country, said Director White Ribbon Campaign Umar Aftab at the launch of National White Ribbon Campaign 2016 on Thursday.
80 percent of women in Pakistan have witnessed violence or personally experienced it in some forms, he added.
Violence against women and killing in the name of honour are rampant in Pakistan. According to reports, around a thousand women are killed in the name of honour in the country every year.
According to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), 987 cases of honour crimes were reported in 2015. 1,096 females and 88 males were victims of gender-based violence, out of which at least 170 were minors. In nearly 470 cases, ages of the victims were not known.
Over 4,000 cases were reported in Pakistan between 1998 and 2004, officials said. Of the victims, almost 2,700 were women and just over 1,300 were men; 3,451 cases came before the courts.
Despite the provision for protection of women rights in its Constitution, Pakistan still lags far behind in preventing violence against women and providing them with justice.
The judicial system remains too weak to mete out timely justice and safety to the victims. Most of the incidences of violence against women occur in domestic disputes, alleged unlawful relations and marriage of choice. Rapes, abuse, acid attacks and ultimately honour killings become the fate of the victims.
Even though some laws have been presented in the assemblies to protect women rights, there are some groups which have held back these laws from getting passed and being implemented. Many religious groups have stated that they are not against the women protection bill but want to remove some controversial clauses from the act.
Many international organisations and NGOs have tried to create awareness and help Pakistani women get to know about their rights, but have been met with setbacks because the system is not strong enough to keep up.
Efforts to tackle violence against women
A major breakthrough came in October this year when the Parliament approved bill aimed at prevention of honour-killings in the country, removing a loophole which had allowed killers to walk free after being pardoned by family members.
The bill, which mandates life sentence for someone who kills in the name of "honour", even if they have been forgiven, followed shortly after Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch was allegedly murdered by her brother in one such gruesome incident of honour-killing.
White Ribbon Campaign
The White Ribbon Campaign is an international men’s movement to end violence against women.
The campaign’s brand ambassador in Pakistan, actor Ahsan Khan says the country needs to make sure that the negative attitude towards women is condemned. “That can only happen when men start reconsidering their approach towards the other gender,” he said.
Speaking in the Geo Pakistan morning show today (Friday), Ahsan Khan shed light on his work to prevent violence against women in Pakistan and stressed the importance of changing attitudes among men towards women in the society.
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UN Women Pakistan's ‘Beat Me’ campaign
Pakistani actresses, athletes, journalists and musicians have come together to deliver a powerful message challenging men to 'beat’ them in a video for UN Women Pakistan's campaign against domestic violence.
