‘Policies must to curb violence against women’

Experts call to establish connection at the community level

To fill gaps in the institutional response to protect women victims of violence and to get women’s protection laws properly implemented and improved where needed, legislators need to play their role in this regard.

This was the crux of the presentations given by experts while speaking at a webinar on ‘Violence against Women: Challenges, Reforms and the Pandemic’ organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here the other day.

Khawar Mumtaz, former chairperson National Commission on the Status of Women, said that the pandemic has highlighted the gaps within the system. There is a structural disconnect between the institutions responsible for providing support to the victims of violence.

It is important to establish a connection at the community level to bridge that gap. Local government or social protection departments have to step up to take up the role. Women who are victims should know where to go for justice. We do not always need laws, we need a system and awareness of where women can reach out for help. It is very important that parliamentarians take up these issues and address loopholes in the laws, she added.

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Sindh Women Protection Centre Executive Director Marvi Awan said amid fears of the spread of the pandemic, it has become increasingly difficult for women to seek help against violence as lockdowns have restricted movement and increased the vulnerability of women to violence. Though the government has been taking measures for women protection against violence, the understanding about and access of society to these sources is scarce, she added.

Maryam Shabbir, a climate change expert at SDPI, said the communities have experienced an increase in harassment during environmental calamities. Women looking for shelter have been subjected to sexual assault and abduction during floods in Tharparkar and Muzaffargarh region, she added.

"Pakistan is among the top 10 countries vulnerable to climate change and hence the risks of increased violence. This is why we need to include the debate on the harassment of women in climate change policies," she stressed.

Moderator Mahrukh Qizalbash said with Pakistan heading towards what health experts are calling ‘the fourth wave of Covid-19’, lockdown restrictions threatening to be tightened and the recently rejected domestic violence bill in Islamabad, it has become imperative to rethink the country’s VAW preventive policies during the pandemic and beyond.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2021.