16 days of activism: Fundamental facilities must for specially-abled women

Federal minister says draft law has cleared cabinet, will be presented in parliament

A senior United Nations official has called on the government to set up specialised health, education and other fundamental facilities for women with disabilities (WWDs) to offset the feeling of being marginalised, and to help them overcome any feelings of inadequacy.

This was suggested by United Nations (UN) Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka during a roundtable discussion organised by the UN Women and Handicap International (HI) to celebrate the resilience of Pakistani women with disabilities who have stood up against the challenges of harassment and violence.

The discussion, on “harassment faced by women with disabilities”, was part of ‘16 Days of Activism,’ a campaign against gender-based violence.

There are a large number of people living with disabilities across the world, however, they have always remained a minority in each society, Mlambo-Ngcuka observed during the roundtable.

She said that there are over a billion specially-abled people in the world, apparently a very large number and that the proportion of women in that cohort was far higher than men.

Federal Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari said that an ordinance which had been introduced to protect the rights of people with disabilities would soon become a formal law since its bill has been approved from the federal cabinet and will now be presented in the parliament.

The bill, she explained, includes clauses on the right to education, right to dignity, right to privacy and some other important protections.

She noted that it was very unfortunate that a number of laws regarding human rights were not being implemented in the country.

“The implementation of the law is the real challenge and it is the responsibility of the government to ensure the implementation of each formulated law,” she remarked and assured that the tabled law for specially-abled people will be implemented on a priority basis.

While briefing about the Empowering Women with Disabilities (EWWDs) project, HI Pakistan Programme Director Angelina Robinson shared the initial findings of the project– issues, experiences, challenges, opportunities and barriers for women with disabilities.

The project, she said, had been implemented in different areas of the country including Islamabad, Peshawar, Karachi, and some other parts of Punjab and Sindh.

UN Women Pakistan Country Representative Jamshed Kazi stated that to protect the rights of specially-abled people, everyone had to share equal responsibility.

“We need to create maximum awareness to make our society a more compassionate one and ensure the rights of people with disabilities while ensuring them equal rights,” he stressed. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2018.