A panel discussion on “Improving the Criminal Justice System Combating Violence Against Women” would held on December 8, as part of the 16 Days Campaign to End Violence Against Women. The event is being arranged Women Organization for Rights and Development (WORD) in collaboration with other civil society organisations. Talking to APP, WORD Executive Director Aqsa Khan said, “The issues faced by women are based on patriarchal structure of society, social and economic factors such as lack of education, economic dependence on male relatives, no right to decision making in family, no right to own property and land, social and cultural norms and socio-customary practices which are prevalent in all spheres of life.”
She said officials at all levels of the criminal justice system do not consider domestic violence a matter for the criminal courts and domestic violence is routinely dismissed by law enforcing agencies as a private matter. The flaws in the criminal justice system are needed to highlight time and again and this penal discussion will provide a platform to make improvements in criminal justice procedure, she added.