With the theme “Celebrate Human Rights”, the International Human Rights Day is going to be observed across the globe, including Pakistan, today (Saturday), with a pledge to continue efforts for protection of human rights. However, despite the government’s serious efforts to curb violence against women (VAW), the data on crime against women has registered a slight increase in the cases in 2011 as compared to the year 2011.
Coinciding the 16 days of activism against gender violence that is going to end today (Saturday) and the International Human Rights which is being observed the same day, the Aurat Foundation (AF), in its report (January-June 2011) titled ‘Situation of Violence Against Women’, said there were 4,448 cases reported till June 2011 as compared to 4,061 cases in the year 2010.
According to the report, out of the total 4,448 cases of violence, 3,035 cases were reported from Punjab, 819 from Sindh, 389 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 133 from Balochistan, whereas 72 cases were reported from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The Ministry of Women’s Development, before it was devolved, observed in a study that Pakistan had been placed third regarding subjection of women to violence. The study further claimed that in every second, one woman in Pakistan became victim to domestic or sexual violence.
The human rights activists believe these figures are just the tip of the iceberg as majority of cases of violence against women remain unrecorded owing to social and traditional obligations. “Another reason for not reporting cases to police is lack of women’s access to reporting system of violence. Lack of legislation is one of the main reasons behind increase in cases of violence against women and there should be a law for the protection of witnesses in the country,” they explained.
Human rights activists and non governmental organisations’ representatives will speak out against abuse and violations, including discrimination, oppression and violence on the day. They will advocate justice and seek to protect the victims of human rights violations, demanding accountability of perpetrators and transparency in government action. The Human Rights Day will highlight and promote achievements of human rights’ defenders and stress the primary responsibility of the state to protect their role. The story does not end after December 10. The focus on the work of human rights’ defenders will continue throughout 2012.
According to the 2010 report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the cases of burning, corporal punishments, death penalty, domestic violence, kidnapping, killing, sectarian violence, sexual harassment, and suicide considerably rose in 2011. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the security situation significantly worsened, with bombings and targeted killings becoming a daily routine even in the country’s biggest cities. Over two million people were displaced during major fighting between the government forces and the Taliban. The economy suffered severe setbacks, food prices skyrocketed and there was chronic shortage of energy and food. The military publicly undermined the civilian government in the areas of the national security, foreign policy, and human rights. The report says President Asif Ali Zardari’s government, initially keen to promote human rights, made some headway, but then lost momentum as it tried but largely failed to deal with these issues.
The Ministry of Human Rights, on the other hand, claimed that it had done a lot for the promulgation of the code regarding human rights’ violations, but failed to implement on a larger scale since there were instances where the judiciary, government and state machinery itself did not uphold the law. It is felt that though the Women’s Harassment and Domestic Violence Bill has been passed for gender justice and most of its provisions provided security to women, but it was not so capable of dealing with the issue. It also does not focus on other vulnerable groups such as minorities.
Pakistan Today also found that http://mohr.gov.pk/ was not updated since many months as majority of its high-ranking officials had either retired or been transferred. Talking to this scribe, human rights activists said most of the existing laws reflected the post-colonial impacts on state institutions’ framework and had an adverse impact on poor and powerless people, especially women. They stressed the need to bridge the gap between the affluent middle class and powerless people in the country to bring about effective institutional reforms. The activists talked about the legal system, saying that despite the lawyers’ movement, lower courts were not functioning in the required way.
When contacted, the Ministry of Human Rights official said they were committed to safeguarding and protecting fundamental rights of people enshrined in articles 8 to 28, Principles of Policy’s Article 29-E and Universal Declaration of Human Rights without any distinction of creed, race or religion. He said Domestic Violence and Harassment Bill had already been passed and implemented in the country.
World Human Rights Day being observed today
