Experts on Thursday stressed the need for accelerating the pace of collective efforts by all stakeholders to eliminate gender-based violence and harassment to achieve sustainable development goals, besides ensuring a healthy society.
They were speaking at a panel discussion on activism to end gender-based violence with the title “Community-centric Approaches to Ending Violence Against Women” jointly organized by the Punjab government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at a hotel.
Speaking on the occasion, Provincial Minister for Women Development Department Ashifa Riaz Fatyana said that problems and challenges faced by women were known to all. However, concrete measures were needed to resolve them.
She said change in society's behavior towards women was of vital importance for durable development and progress.
The minister said it was sanguine that the positive change in societal behavior was now there as the rights of women were being acknowledged.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government was taking exemplary measures to ensure the provision of due rights to women as record legislation had been made by the federal as well as the provincial government in this regard.
She said that a number of bills had been passed by the Punjab Assembly for the protection of rights of women. A helpline 1043 designated for women had been working since 2014, and a proper monitoring mechanism was in place to check the record of calls and follow-up was being ensured.
Ashifa Riaz said that network of hostels were being extended to other districts to facilitate the working women in the province as more womenfolk were coming to practical fields which was a welcoming sign towards country's progress.
She expressed Punjab government's resolve to take more steps for the betterment of womenfolk and to empower them in society.
She said Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar was keen to work for the development of women and personally monitoring steps being taken by the line departments.
Punjab Women Protection Authority chairperson Kaneez Fatima participating in the discussion said the government was committed to protecting the rights of women and practical steps were being taken in this regard.
She said the authority was striving to establish Darul Aman in every district so that complete protection could be ensured to vulnerable women.
The participants discussed the use of social media and its impacts on the society in context of gender violence.
They said that the social media was the latest tool of communication and a useful platform. However, its way of utilisation would show its positive or negative impacts. They said that sharing any information or news without verifying had become a common practice on social media sites.
This practice often resulted in creating difficulties for a victim of violence whose clips were being shared on the sites without knowing the real background.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2021.
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