ISLAMABAD – Even though Higher Education Commission (HEC) has issued clear guidelines for the implementation of anti-sexual harassment policies, the universities have not sent back any information to confirm that committees are being formed as required by the law to curb the problems related to harassment.
This was revealed here on Tuesday during the meeting of Implementation Watch Committee of the National Commission on the Status of Women.
The Watch Committee’s objective is to facilitate the implementation process of the anti-sexual harassment legislation that was signed by President Zardari in March last year. During the meeting the committee shared the progress made in the first year and listed appointment of the ombudsperson by the PM, notification from the major regulatory bodies in relation to complying with the law and hundreds of awareness sessions and training programs for managements and inquiry committee members as their major achievements.
They shared a database that will show the names of the companies that have complied with the legislation. It was reported that media, which is quick to hold others accountable, has failed to form committees and comply with other provisions required by the law. The implementation Watch Committee reported that only three media channels and two newspapers have reported setting up a committee as prescribed in the law. The database will be available on the website soon.
Out of over one hundred banks under State Bank of Pakistan only 26 Banks have complied. Dr Fouzia Saeed, the chairperson of the Watch Committee announced that the members decided to focus on the provinces in the second year of the work. The committee reviewed the progress made in the last one year on the implementation of “anti-sexual harassment law” and fine tuned the strategy for next year. Salma Qureshi, additional secretary Women Development Department Balochistan, has circulated the text of the law and the Code of Conduct among all their provincial Ministries.
Musarrat Jabeen, deputy secretary Women Development Department Sindh informed the Committee that they have even translated the legislation into Sindhi and circulated among the senior officials. Dr Fouzia stressed that efforts need to be made so that the provinces can appoint ombudspersons under this Act as soon as possible. She also reported that “several cases are being reported to the committees within organizations.
