ISLAMABAD
Almost 869 women were killed in the name of honour and more than 800 women committed suicide during the year 2013, revealed Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) report released on Thursday.
The annual report titled, State of Human Rights in 2013, mentioned that only 18.3 percent women had secondary or higher level of education and only 28 percent were formally counted in the workforce.
Addressing reporters at the launch of the report, HRCP Co-chairman Kamran Arif said the stunting rate among children younger than five had increased from 41.6 percent to 43.7 percent in a decade.
Around 800,000 children died in the country each year, 35 percent of these due to malnutrition, whereas 85 confirmed polio cases were reported across the country, 60 of them from FATA alone during last year.
Almost 20 anti-polio vaccinators were killed in the attacks on vaccination teams and nine police protecting them were also killed and more than 300 people were killed in the measles epidemic.
The highest number of affected cases were reported from Punjab by the epidemic with 23,477 cases and 192 deaths.
Dengue claimed scores of lives across the country and 16,000 patients were diagnosed with the disease. In Swat district 8,546 patients were registered among which 33 died.
The report further said only 1.59 million workers, out of the 59 million labour force had access to social security. The number of unemployed persons increased from 3.40 million in 2010-2011 to 3.72 million in 2013.
As many as 10 labourers died in accidents in the ship-breaking industry in one month alone. An estimated two million Pakistanis were trapped in various forms of modern-day slavery.