Sindh Commission on Status of Women announced re-initiating the model districts free from gender-based violence
HYDERABAD: The Sindh Commission on Status of Women has announced re-initiating the plan for model districts free from gender-based violence in the province. The said commission, along with few other non-governmental organisations, works to deal with gender-based-violence cases. However, investigations into most such cases or their resolution are never sought due to a lack of support and coordination among government offices; for instance, between the ministry of human rights and the provincial women development department.
At this stage, the idea to create model districts in the province is most welcome, given the grave situation pertaining to gender issues in the country, particularly in the interior and rural areas of the provinces. Without the necessary backing from government offices, the execution of the idea is near impossible, as in majority of the cases the police, government personnel or officials covertly back the culprits.
As the problem goes much deeper than just taking action over such issues, there needs to be a coherent planning in the matter. It is important that people, especially women, have enough faith in the justice system so that they can come forward to report incidents of violence in the first place. While significant progress has been made, there’s still a lot that needs to be done before any such idea of model district could get close to reality.
Hamna Iqbal
Published in The Express Tribune, November 18th, 2017.
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