Govt likely to present own bill on honour killing

Rights minister says steps are being taken to curb violence against women

ISLAMABAD: The government has hinted at presenting its own legislation on honour killings after a similar bill introduced in the previous government was allowed to lapse.

“The government is planning to make the state the plaintiff of the victims of honour killing, as opposed to a family member,” said Federal Minister for Human Rights Kamran Michael during an interaction with journalists on Wednesday.



In 2014, former Senator Sughra Imam of the PPP had tabled the Anti-Honour Killing Laws (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill 2014, which aimed to make the crime non-compoundable so that a convicted person could not escape culpability by being ‘forgiven’ by the victim.

The bill was passed by the Senate in March 2015 but lapsed in the National Assembly later that year. This year, the bill was taken up by Senator Farhatullah Babar on behalf of the former senator in the joint session of parliament but the session was overshadowed by the controversial PIA bill.

Earlier in the press conference, the minister said the government had taken notice of the growing incidents of honour killings and violence against women and the Ministry of Human Rights was undertaking various administrative and policy initiatives.

“[These include] formulation of national policy guidelines on gender-based violence, establishment of new crisis centres for women and standardization of existing services at district level, legislation of Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill 2013 and effective operationalisation of Women in Distress and Detention Fund,” he added.



He said presently Family Protection and Rehabilitation Centre for Women (FPRCW) is working to protect women against all kinds of violence and discrimination and offering free medical aid, free legal aid, psycho-social counseling as well as a shelter home to support victims of violence.



“The ministry is also conducting studies to review all discriminatory legislation against women,” he added.

He said a comprehensive programme to raise awareness on human rights issues, focused on the rights of women, children, minorities and persons with disabilities, has been finalised with a budgetary support of Rs250 million in the financial year 2016-17.

Michael said a Plan of Action on Human Rights was approved by prime minster in February 2016, under which a National Task Force with federal and provincial representation has been notified. “This task force will soon review the implementation status of the action plan,” he added.

He mentioned a helpline (1099) that has been made functional to offer legal advice and redressal assistance to victims of human rights violations.

“National Commission for Human Rights is also functioning with a broad mandate under the NCHR Act, 2012 which provides the commission powers to take suo moto action on the incidents of human rights violations,” he added.

The minister pointed out that the Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act,2016 has been recently enacted, increasing the minimum age of criminal responsibility from seven years to 10 years.

“Meanwhile, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Child Protection Bill, 2016, providing protection and care to children in the ICT from all forms of physical or mental abuse, National Commission on the Rights of the Child Bill, 2015 and the Juvenile Justice System Bill, 2016  for social-reintegration of the child offenders, are under process of legislation,” he added.

About international commitments, he said Pakistan has ratified seven core Human Rights Conventions and efforts are underway for implementation of Core Human Rights Conventions at the grassroots level.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2016.