| Launching Ceremony of the Research Study on "Violence Against Women & Girls in the Times of Covid-19 Pandemic 2020 and Commemoration of 12 February, National Women's Day , Islamabad |
12-02-2021
Islamabad
Launching Ceremony of the Research Study on "Violence Against Women & Girls in the Times of Covid-19 Pandemic 2020 and Commemoration of 12 February, National Women's Day
Aurat Foundation in collaboration of South Asia Partnership Pakistan organized a launching ceremony of its Research Study titled "Violence against Women & Girls in the Times of Covid-19 Pandemic" under the auspices of the project "JAZBA - Democracy and Empowered Women or Jamhoriat aur Baikhtiar Aurat" on Friday, 12 February, 2021 at Margala Hotel, Islamabad. The study was being launched on 12 February, which is Pakistani National Women's Day, to commemorate this day by paying tributes to all those who blazed the trail of struggle for women's rights and ending all forms of discrimination against them.
Launching ceremony was chaired by Ms. Shandana Gulzar Khan, Member, National Assembly of Pakistan and Chairperson, Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians. Mr. Christopher Khng, Head of Cooperation, High Commission of Canada in Pakistan also graced the occasion with his virtual presence. Among them Dr. Aliya Hashmi Khan, Member Prime Minister Economic Advisory Council, Dr. Rakhshinda Perveen, Gender and GBV expert, Mr. Naeem Ahmad Mirza, Executive Director, Aurat Foundation Ms. Mumtaz Mughal, Director Programmes, Aurat Foundation, Mr. Irfan Mufti, Team Leader JAZBA Project, SAP-Pk also spoke at the event.
Ms. Shandana Gulzar Khan, Member, National Assembly of Pakistan and Chairperson, Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians said that there is dire need to end violence in our society so that everyone can breathe freely. There are opportunities to link such programmes with parliamentary platform of SGDs.
Mr. Christopher Khung, Head of Cooperation, High Commission of Canada in Pakistan stated that research report has pointed out some important trends of out of court settlements cases that needs to be focused to work on women survivors/victims of violence range from two-year-old girls to middle-aged married women. He said that women survivors/victims come from all socio-economic backgrounds - from the very poor to the middle class and violence occurs any and everywhere at education institutions, in offices, and at homes. He also stated that child sexual abuse and exploitation is a common problem in society and often ends in out of court settlements as women cave under pressure from family members, neighbors, relatives, community members, police officers and others who push women to drop their court cases and release the accused.
Ms. Aliya Hashmi, Board Member, member of Economic Advisory, stated that Aurat Foundation has been building women capacity from ages. She has given tribute to Ms. Nigar Ahmed and was thankful to her from all women community. She said that VAWG/VAW is a global pandemic. Anecdotal evidence has long suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the prevalence of VAW in society. In Pakistan, a country where men have long denied women their rights, VAW is common, backed by unsubstantiated notions of honour. This report shines a light on the problem and uses empirical qualitative and quantitative evidence to document the rise of VAW during the pandemic.
Mr. Naeem Ahmed Mirza, Executive Director, Aurat Foundation stated that there is global movement in the world for the elimination of violence against women and girls. UN should bound all countries in the world though treaty to take affirmative action for the elimination of violence against women and girls. He also stated that Implementation of laws is the responsibility of the duty bearers an State is responsible for legislation. Our parliamentarians should focus on the human and financial resources while enacting laws for women and girls. There is need to build visible, actual, inclusive alliances with the most vulnerable groups of women and girls including trans people amidst the pandemic COVID-19 to demonstrate solidarity and alignment of the agenda 2030.
Ms Mumtaz Mughal, Director Programmes stated that we all are here to present tribute to struggle of Pakistani women. We all are here to celebrate women's achievements and their struggle for women empowerment. She said that there is need to mainstream policies in context of gender and inclusion in all policies and budgets and actually allocating matching monetary resources to address the issue through gender and multidisciplinary experts and rehabilitation of the survivors of violence.
The key findings of the review and analysis of the data were presented by Dr. Rakhshinda Perveen. She said that 2297 cases of VAW reported in the 25 districts from January to December 2020. Despite the problem of underreporting during COVID and the limited sample size, the number of cases is shockingly high. Doing a month-to-month analysis of the cases reveals that at the peak of the pandemic in July, cases of VAW were at their highest. Following this, cases dropped again but rose in September due to a resurgence of COVID. 57% of all cases were reported from Punjab, 27% from Sindh, 8% from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 6% from Gilgit-Baltistan and 2% from Balochistan. Of all the provinces, Punjab reported the highest incidents of murder, rape, suicide, acid burning, kidnapping and miscellaneous violence against women cases (including domestic violence, child and forced marriages, dowry and inheritance). Sindh had the most "honour" killings in the country. The number of reported cases of abduction were the highest, followed by murder and rape. In Balochistan, the number of reported murders was the highest followed by the number of rapes. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, murders were the highest followed by suicides and rapes. In Gilgit-Baltistan, suicides were the most prevalent followed by acid crimes and murder.
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