Higher need to aware and educate women at all levels in Pakistan to exercise their rights and live a life free from violence

Islamabad,(Nasir Abbas) : Action for Impact organized a webinar session on December 10th, 2022, at International Human Rights Day which was attended by the diverse group. During the webinar session, speakers and human rights activist stressed on exercising the rights that Government of Pakistan has provided for women and young girls to decrease the ratio of violence and discrimination against women at all levels in the country. While addressing, human rights activist and gender champions of Pakistan mentioned the details of rising cases of violence against women and girls. They shared 4,734 women have been sexually abused and over 15,000 cases of honor crimes were registered in Pakistan between 2004 to 2016 as per White Ribbon Pakistan. In addition, the cases of sexual harassment are also increasing as in Lahore there were 54 rapes in 2018, yet by the end of February 2020 this number increased to 73 incidents of rape, including five gang-rape cases. In 2019, no fewer than 3,881 cases of rape were registered just in Punjab with just a 0.3% conviction rate in the whole of Pakistan. A major type of violence against women that Pakistan is particularly struggling with is sexual harassment in the workplace. A survey on the harassment of women at the workplace mentions that nearly 93 percent of women working in the public and private sectors are alleged to have been subjected to sexual harassment. Private sector organizations appeared to be involved in more cases of sexual harassment due to the lack of job security and the absence of regulatory mechanisms. The statistics from the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment (FOSPAH) show that the complaint rate for sexual harassment in the workplace has increased from 432 in 2019, to 535 in 2020. Moreover, the FOSPAH Annual report 2022 outlined the following figures: the total number of complaints between 2018 to 2022 were 2169, in the government sector there were 582 lodged by women and 148 by men. In the private sector there were 994 complaints from women and 445 by men. While addressing to audience, Ms. Aqsa Khan mentioned that Pakistan has a very good legislation. Among all the legislations, Protection Against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2010 is landmark legislation. But there is a dire need that women and girls must exercise this law and report the cases of incident at all levels. Law is there but we need to be fearless in seeking justice for our rights. She also mentioned that there is a higher need that the authorities and management of the intuitions must come up with a more responsive behaviors while dealing with the cases of sexual abuse and harassment. Ms. Fiza Quershi, freelance journalist and human rights activist stressed changing the mindset at different levels as people at industrial level are more prone toward harassment. She stressed on more voices and actions to root out violence and discrimination against women. Ms. Maliha Hussain, Executive Director of Mehergarh, summed up the discussion of both the speakers and highlighted the aspect that every individual must act for their own rights. She mentioned there is a beautiful legislations available in the form of Protection Against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2010 but the biggest responsibility on the implementers to make this law more effective. It is high time that everyone should act for him/herself and report any incident violence and discrimination at workplace and seek justice. If they are not satisfied at the management level, then reach out to the Federal Ombudsman and get the justice according to the law. She mentioned that her organization is providing extensive role related to sensitization and implementation of this act. The Chief Executive Officer of Action for Impact, Ms. Zartasha Niazi shared that there is higher need to raise voice at all levels for gender equal world. We can only make our workplace and non-formal working place free from violence by taking a very strong action against according to legal measures that are provided by the Government of Pakistan. Action for Impact is a social enterprise (registered from SECP ) and an innovative platform which brings together striking initiatives that are impacting people’s lives across Pakistan. Our aim is to come up with innovative initiatives to attain the desirable results of sustainable development goals in Pakistan by taking tangible actions. We are building community and generating a healthy discourse by engaging marginalized people and finding solutions to major problems. We are going to aggregate the voices of local champions and their innovative solutions at the local level for bringing change in their respective areas with meager resources.