0
KARACHI, Aug 31: Women’s rights activists have demanded that the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) be empowered and interference by the ministry of women’s development into its affairs be ended as the commission was envisioned to be an autonomous body.
Speakers at a meeting held here on Friday expressed concern over the government’s lack of ownership of international commitments, especially the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw), and maintained that the measures taken by the government so far in the name of women’s welfare were cosmetic and, therefore, had failed to bring about any real change.
The meeting was organised by the Aurat Publication and Information Service Foundation to brief the media and members of civil society organisations on the Cedaw committee meeting at the United Nations.
The meeting was addressed by Justice (retd) Majida Rizvi, local government representative Nasir Abbas, Anis Haroon and Shahid Fayyaz of the Aurat Foundation.
The speakers said that the continued meddling by the women’s ministry in the affairs of the NCSW had adversely affected its autonomy. The commission needs to be institutionalised and independent from outside influences in order to affectively address women’s problems, they added.
“There is a tug-of-war going on between the ministry and the commission. The commission is not a government institution and (is) not under the ministry. This is a major hurdle, which has immensely affected the working of the commission,” Simi Kamal, a member of NCSW from Sindh remarked.
Indian experience
Such commissions, she said, had also been set up in other countries and the reason they were successful, for instance in India, was because there was no parallel system. The members worked full-time with the commission and also had the powers to summon any government official.
“Their commission generates funding on its own and is linked with a strong women’s NGO network which brings up petitions from all over the country,” she said, adding that there was a need to learn from the Indian experience.
A significant development in recent days, she said, was the official approval of the Gender Reform Women’s Action Plan (GRAP). Besides, work was in progress to bring transparency in the selection of members and other procedures.
Giving details about the meeting at the UN, Ayesha Mir of Shirkat Gah said that the concluding comments of the Cedaw Committee included many points raised in the second shadow report, ‘Talibanisation and Poor Governance: Undermining Cedaw in Pakistan,’ which was based on the views and concerns of 23 organisations.
Govt’s lack of will
It was pointed out that Pakistan’s successive governments’ lack of will in addressing the issue of gender discrimination can be gauged from the fact that it took the government 16 years to finally ratify the convention, which was proposed by it, while the government took 10 years to submit its first report, which was supposed to be submitted one year after ratifying the convention. The subsequent reports are filed with a gap of four years.
Among other requests, the Cedaw committee has asked the government that a definition of discrimination against women in line with article 1 of the convention be included in the constitution or in other appropriate legislation; undertake a comprehensive review and revision of all discriminatory legislation including the Citizenship Act of 1951, the Law of Evidence of 1984, dissolution of the Muslim Marriage Act of 1939 and the Hudood Ordinances of 1979; withdraw its declaration to the convention without delay; ensure that the Qisas and Diyat laws have no application in cases of violence against women and crimes committed in the name of honour; adopt the bill on domestic violence within a clear timeframe; implement the judgment of the superior court to eliminate informal dispute resolution forums (jirgas) and take concrete measures to enhance women’s access to healthcare.The government has been asked to submit the next report by April 2009.
