KARACHI July 21: Speakers at an orientation workshop held here on Monday stressed upon the need of shelters for destitute children and women.

The workshop was held in a local hotel by Madadgaar, a joint venture of Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) and United Nation Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Mr Fazal Noor, Mr Rashid Ansari, Ms Musarrat Parveen and others representing different government and non-governmental organizations addressed the workshop.

Expressing concern over the increasing number of violence cases against children and women, they emphasized on the need of shelters for them.

The LHRLA President, Zia Awan, informed the participants that LHRLA had been working for the betterment of children and women since long and establishment of Madadgaar, Pakistan’s first child help line and protection service, is also a part of their commitment to mitigate the sufferings of the neglected class of society.

He stressed on the awareness and implementation of Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) 2000, and lamented that most of the concerned officials were not aware of the law.

The Constitution, he said, guaranteed equal rights for all citizens and categorically forbade discrimination of any kind. But, majority of the children and women did not get their rights as guaranteed in the Constitution in relation to survival, development, protection and participation.

The staff members of Madadgaar informed the participants that during the year 2001, as many as 443 children were murdered, 149 girls raped, 219 boys sodomised, 189 children injured and 934 cases of missing children were reported in the print media.

They informed that during the year 2002, as many as 573 children were murdered, 337 girls raped, 296 boys sodomised, 258 children injured and 776 cases of missing children were reported in national press.

They further revealed that since January 2003, around 354 children were murdered in the country, 207 girls raped, 21 girls were murdered after rape, 178 boys sodomised, eight boys were murdered after sodomy, 162 children injured and 429 cases of missing children were also reported.

In the year 2001, as many as 1,390 women were murdered, 587 women were raped, 705 cases were reported as honour killing, 1,193 incidents of women abduction and 1,197 cases of injury were reported.

During the year 2002, around 1,406 women were murdered, 920 women were raped, 848 horrific cases of honour killing were reported, 1887 cases of women abduction and 1429 cases of injury were reported from all over the country.— PPI