Five participants from FATA attended a training seminar organized by Mehergarh: A Centre for Learning, in its efforts to implement anti-sexual harassment legislation. The participants said that the Anti-Harassment Act was passed in 2010, but not much had been done for its implementation in FATA.
The representatives said, “Now that we have learned about the ins and outs of this law and how to implement it, we are committed to improve the working environment of organizations in our area.” Sharing their views at the concluding ceremony of the two-day training workshop on Monday, a FATA representative said that the area had been ignored and this would be the first step towards the implementation of these laws. A diverse group of various organizations including National Police Bureau, Higher Education Commission in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, Bank Alfalah, School of Leadership – Karachi, Quaid-e-Azam University, Capital TV -Islamabad and others attended the workshop.
Mehak Jamshed from a private TV channel said, “The media holds everyone else accountable, but is far behind in the implementation of the anti-sexual harassment legislation. She said that with the help of what she had learnt, she would be able to ensure proper compliance with the law in her TV Channel.
Salahuddin from Quaid-e-Azam University said that his university had already complied with the law and students felt very confident in the mechanism to report such cases.
He said, “I have realized that it is the responsibility of the management to ensure that all students, especially new ones, faculty and administration are aware of this law and the Inquiry Committee members”. Conducting awareness sessions was an activity that needed to be carried out on a regular basis, as there were new students joining the university constantly, participants remarked.
Maliha Husain, the lead trainer, said that every participant was committed in making their work environment more dignified.
Some of them had already adopted the code of conduct, but were facing challenges in implementing it and dealing with cases as they tended to be quite complex.
