KARACHI: Uks, research, resource and publication centre working for women empowerment, gender equality and equity within and through the media, has launched a series of radio programmes to show solidarity with the 16-day international campaign against gender-based violence starting on Friday.

The theme of this year is ‘From peace in the home to peace in the world: make education safe for all’. In the 16-episode radio series, Amn ki Shama sey Ilm ki Lau, (Lighting the Torch of Education through the Candle of Peace) Uks radio producers explore various factors and gender unjust practices contributing to denial of education to girls including violent extremism, lack of awareness of basic and legal rights, illiteracy, forced marriages, lack of access to opportunities, for instance, mobility and economic stability.

Each 10-minute programme developed in the national context can be accessed on Uks’s website for each of the sixteen days of the campaign till Dec 10.

The first programme of this series would also be aired on Sunno FM 89.4 at 3pm on Nov 25.

“Pakistan ranks second last out of 144 countries in the Gender Equality Index. Despite the formulation of several women protection laws and policies during the decade, Pakistan has been registering an alarming increase in gender-based violence.

“Prevalent across classes, ethnicity, urban and rural divide, gender-based violence has its roots in the patriarchal structure that dictates the status of women and girls at the household, community and policy levels.

“Although education is in the top six sectors undertaken under the head of gender-based violence projects in the country, women and girls continue to be worst sufferers as far as denial of access to education and inaccessibility to quality educational opportunities are concerned,” says a press release.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2016