UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has been told that the government of Pakistan is committed to alleviating and improving the situation of women, according to a press release.

Speaking at a session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the UN headquarters, Khawar Mumtaz, chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women and leader of Pakistani delegation, said that gender equality and women development were part of the country’s long-term national planning framework, known as Vision 2025.

Pakistan’s Constitution, she said, guaranteed equal rights for all its citizens without any discrimination and ensured full participation of women in all spheres of national life.

Through their dedication and hard work, Pakistani women continued to dismantle conventional stereotypes, Ms Mumtaz said. Working as prime minister, speakers, ambassadors and federal secretaries, Pakistani women had performed outstandingly when given the opportunity, she added.

She told the panel that Pakistan had 20 per cent women members in parliament and up to 33 per cent in local government, with the election commission working to promote greater turnout of women voters in elections.

“Yet, like any other society, while Pakistani women have accomplished a lot, a lot more still needs to be done,” the chief Pakistani delegate said.

She expressed Pakistan’s commitment to Sustainable Develo–pment Goals and said that the country was a signatory to seven core UN human rights conventions. She said the country’s National Sustainable Develo–pment Strategy, National Education Policy, Climate Change Policy, Disaster Risk Management Policy, all included a gender perspective.

Ms Mumtaz told the delegates from around the world about the steps taken by Pakistan to reduce ‘feminisation of poverty’ and ensure equality. The measures include fostering greater women participation in the workforce through non-traditional skill development programmes and provision of financial resources.

Besides the Prime Minister’s Youth Business Loans with 50 per cent quota for young women entrepreneurs, she said, there were over 50 institutions providing credit to women across the country.

She also told the international gathering that the Benazir Income Support Programme was providing a social safety net to women. It has disbursed monthly stipends to the tune of Rs40 billion among about five million women, 76 per cent of whom retain control over the cash disbursed.

Pakistan, she said, had enacted laws to provide protection to women and create an enabling environment for them. The laws at the federal and provincial levels pertain to protection against harassment at workplace, ‘honour killings,’ acid and burn crimes, rape and domestic violence and include the Hindu marriage law giving inheritance and identity rights to women of the minority community, she added.

Ms Mumtaz also spoke about other institutional measures that were underway for the inclusion of women with disabilities and transgender persons in the policy net and setting up monitoring systems with emphasis on gender disaggregated data collection through cutting edge information technology.

“Commissions on status of women and human rights are already in place and minority and child rights commissions are in process,” she said.

She said that Pakistan, a founding member of UN Human Rights Council, was a candidate for a seat on the Geneva-based body for the term 2018-2020, adds APP. “We are confident that the international community will once again repose their trust in Pakistan, by electing us to the council,” she said.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2017