LAHORE: The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) started on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Monday (Nov 25). This is an annual international campaign that begins on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and runs until Human Rights Day (Dec 10).

Mumtaz Mughal, the Punjab director of Aurat Foundation, said women continue to experience violence, particularly domestic violence, murder, rape and sexual harassment and assault in public. She said 3,008 incidents of rape and 147 cases of gang-rape of adult women were reported only in Punjab from January to September 2019 while 218 incidents of gang rape were reported during the same period in Sindh. According to the statistics, provided by the investigation branch of Punjab Police, 244 cases of honour killing were reported in Punjab in 2018, including 43 in Faisalabad division, 39 in Gujranwala, 30 in Sargodha, 27 in DG Khan, 26 in Bahawalpur, 20 in Multan, 17 in Rawalpindi, 18 in Lahore 18 and 14 in Sahiwal.

“Each year, hundreds of Pakistani women are killed by relatives angered by behaviour they believe has impugned the family’s reputation,” Ms Mumtaz said and added that the provincial governments must take decisive action in addressing the structural and systemic failures of the criminal justice system, particularly policing and prevention.

Aisha Mukhtar, country director of UN Women Pakistan, said violence against women was not just a women’s issue and it affected everyone and acted as a barrier in the country’s development and social growth.

“It’s a gross violation of human rights which must be eliminated at once.

“This is such a crime that it is not thought of as a crime. We must make a change by changing our own mindset,” Ms Aisha added.

Women parliamentarians are essential in raising issues by women, especially in the assembly. The Women’s Parliamentary Caucus played a special part in this, with women members addressing these issues in the last government. There is, however, no caucus in the new assembly.

Former media officer of the last caucus, Kanwal Nauman, said the caucus was a platform that would help all women parliamentarians get on the same page regarding women’s issues and incidents.

“We would hold a meeting with members and then highlight these issues on the assembly floor and made sure the bills got passed,” she said and added, “The new assembly must push for a women’s caucus”.

Ms Kanwal said the last caucus had pushed for laws on inheritance, acid attacks, child marriage, violence against women and workplace harassment etc.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2019