Gender Justice: Addressing violence against women

Speakers stressed that the government ensure the strict implementation of laws against violence towards women.

MULTAN: Speakers at a seminar on ‘violence against women’ stressed that the government ensure the strict implementation of laws against violence towards women. The seminar was held under the auspices of the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives and Gender Justice Protection Project on Monday. Advocate Saadia Mumtaz stated that there were different kinds of violence against women and that civil society needed to be increasingly involved in combating all forms of violence against women in the country. She said that women had fewer chances of education, health and economic prosperity in the country and suggested that the relevant authorities check the free sale of acid, used in dozens of acid burnings targeting women. She also suggested that the authority should devise a system of checking up on rape cases without the interference of police to ensure that the cases had been pursued according to due process.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2011.