LAHORE:
“Some people believe that the women in shelter homes are runaways from their homes or criminals. We denounce this approach. They should understand the difference between jails and shelter homes,” Saima Ashraf from the Rozan NGO said on Monday.
She was addressing a consultation on Care and Protection of Women in Distress, organised by Shirkat Gah, Rozan and Dastak Charitable Trust.
The consultation was arranged to review standards of public and private shelter homes and to obtain input for standardisation of their functioning. The discussion highlighted the situation of laws and women’s rights at these centres.
Ashraf also made a presentation suggesting handling of women in shelter homes, focusing on survivors of violence. She said there was a dire need to resist stereotypes and misconceptions about shelter homes.
Hina Jillani said that protection should not take away from women their basic freedom.
“Women are suppressed at their homes in our society. This limits their role and is a violation of their basic rights promised by the constitution.” She said it was unfair to hold them back from living an independent life.
A Darul Amaan representative from Sindh told The Express Tribune that often women who needed psychiatric treatment were sent to Darul Amaans.
“We cannot refuse to accept them because they are often referred by powerful people. Lawmakers themselves do not follow the rules and regulations.”
People needed to know the difference between jails, mental hospitals and drop-in shelters, she said.
MPA Sajida Mir suggested that women parliamentarians should visit shelter homes and stay there for at least two days to understand the problems of women there.
The participants also discussed guidelines issued by the Social Welfare Department of the Punjab government to the Darul Amaan administrations and compared the situation at shelter homes across the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ