Religious leaders and scholars from different schools of thought on Tuesday emphasised the need to eliminate all forms of violence against women, terming it critical to building a peaceful society. They also stressed the need for interfaith harmony.
They said this during a dialogue organised by the provincial office of the United Nations (UN) Women, Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) Alliance under the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
Religious scholars discussed the issue of GBV in detail and later jointly signed a declaration condemning the practice while pledging to play their role in sensitizing communities to prevent and eliminate GBV.
They observed that women, being the most vulnerable segment of the society and deprived of their basic rights, were more prone to violence followed by the transgender community.
There is a need to strengthen state-run social protection networks and ensure the provision of required support to the vulnerable groups, the scholars underlined.
Zainab Qaisar Khan, the provincial head UN Women, said that like other parts of the world, GBV is also rampant in Pakistani society.
“It can happen anywhere, anytime and across all classes irrespective of education level and income status. It can happen against boys, men, elderly and transgender but mostly the target is women and girls,” she remarked, adding that GBV included, but was not limited to, domestic abuse, sexual violence such as rape and honour crimes.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2020.
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