Pakistan Pledges at UN to Promote, Protect Women's Rights
By Sonita Taylor 'Pakistan Times' UN Special Correspondent

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has presented its first ever report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women since it ratified the Women's Convention in 1996, saying Islamabad was committed to promote and protect women's rights.

"We are determined to empower Pakistani women and to include them in the development of our country," the Secretary of the Ministry of Women Development Mahmood Salim Mahmood told the committee while introducing Pakistan's initial, second and third combined report.

"Our government remains committed to ensure provision of justice and security to the women so that they can lead their lives with respect and dignity," he said in his introductory statement.

Mahmood, who is leading the Pakistan delegation, said the report was a product of an elaborate national consultative process, during which many drafts were prepared, modified and refined, as the expert body examined the country's compliance with the treaty.

He highlighted some specific measures undertaken by the Government at policy, administrative and institutional levels to eliminate discrimination against women and empower them, including the National Action Plan of 1998 and the first national policy for women's empowerment in 2002.

Mahmood said that violence against women was a global concern that was entrenched in a stereotypical mindset, and Pakistan was no exception. A traditional mindset was difficult to change, but affirmative action had been taken, which sought to bring about the necessary attitudinal change.

Of Honour Killing

The national policy for development and empowerment emphasized, among other things, the adoption of a zero-tolerance policy, and declared that "honour killing" was murder, he said. It also sought to revise legal procedures, introduce positive legislation on domestic violence and reform, and establish family protection programmes at the district level to provide women with legal and psychological counselling and referrals to medical and legal aid.

In compliance with the policy of zero tolerance, he said that a law against "honour killing" was passed by Parliament. Among other measures, the Protection of Women Act of 2006 was adopted, sexual harassment in the government and private sector was made a punishable offence, the Citizenship Act of 1951 was amended, and a bill on domestic violence was "under construction".

Additionally, the secretary said initiatives had been taken to support the Government's efforts in assisting women victims of violence. Those included a gender crime cell created by the Ministry of Interior in the National Police Bureau to monitor and address all sorts of crimes against women, and a human rights wing under the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights to address human rights violations and trends, especially those affecting women.

He said that institutional reforms had included the establishment in 2000 of the National Commission on the Status of Women, and the gender reform action plan in May 2005, which envisaged reforms in such key areas as political participation of women, women's employment in the public sector, and a gender responsive budgeting mechanism.

Jail reforms were being instituted, with a special focus on female victims, Mahmood said. Those reforms included the establishment of separate women's jails, improving the physical environment, and the protection of women and juveniles from abuse, and their eventual rehabilitation.

Through assistance from the Asian Development Bank, he said a comprehensive programme to improve access to the justice programme was being implemented, with a focus on reducing delays in the courts. With assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a three-year project on gender mainstreaming had been launched.

Major Challenges

Some major challenges included the low literacy rate among women, although literacy was now showing an upward trend, Mahmood said. The education sector reforms action plan had raised school enrolment, with noticeable improvement in the completion rates for girls through grade 5.

With positive trends and the right policies in place, he said the government was confident that soon the girl children of today would grow up to be the educated and prosperous young Pakistani women of tomorrow. Women's economic empowerment was the prime aspiration of the government, conscious that women were the "poorest of the poor" and that "poverty has a feminine face".

Additionally, women's employment schemes were being developed and many steps had been taken to facilitate women's role in the country's development at all levels. Achievements in women's political empowerment were unprecedented, he said.

Along with the head of the delegation, the other participants were Parveen Qadir Agha, development consultant and former Secretary of the Ministry of Women Development; Syrus Qazi, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Huma Chughtai, legal and gender expert; Mehrene Ishaq, lawyer; and Syed Zafar Hasan Mahmood, Project Coordinator, Ministry of Women Development.●