Shelter homes: Doors remain closed for women victims of violence
Govt says there are not enough resources to run crisis centres in province.
PESHAWAR:
With the closure of Women Crisis Centres in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), more women victims of violence and abuse have been left abandoned.
In June, the provincial government said all centres in the province should stop their activities and withdrew financial assistance to them, citing a lack of funds.
The employees of the centres in Swat, Abbottabad, Peshawar and Kohat received their termination letters on June 14, following which Social Welfare, Special Education and Women Empowerment departments took to the courts to challenge the decision.
Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan issued an order on June 22 against the termination notification and said all petitioners shall retain their original positions and get salaries until further orders.
However, this was not followed through and on Tuesday, the PHC ordered the concerned departments to release pending salaries till December 15 and ordered the social welfare secretary to appear in person on the next date of hearing on January 15, 2013.
The manager at the crisis centre in Swat, Nusrat (who goes by one name), said that neither have any salaries been given since June 14, nor has the centre been given any other funds for operations.
Meanwhile, Provincial Minister for Social Welfare and Women Affairs Sitara Ayaz said: “It is not feasible to run the centres in the presence of its Darul Amaans (shelters) which perform the same function.”
She said that two centres were run in Peshawar, one by the K-P government and the other by the federal government. Due to a lack of resources, centres in Swat and Abbottabad were merged with Darul Amaans. She added that the Kohat centre was still functioning because there was no Darul Amaan in the area.
“A Darul Amaan is a type of halfway home where women are told to stay when they have cases pending in court”, said Mehergarh Centre for Learning Programmes Director Maliha Hussain, adding, “these institutions are in essence mini-jails meant to provide shelter to women who have moved against their male counterparts in court.”
Hussain said that there is a dire need for putting pressure on the government to retain the centres because they are providing valuable services to women.
Qamar Naseem, Programme Coordinator of End Violence Against Women (EVAW) alliances in
K-P and the tribal areas said that the government’s assertion that Darul Amaans provide the same service is incorrect because of the difference in mandate of the two institutions.
He added that the closure of women crisis centres will have a very drastic effect on women survivors of violence. The National Commission on the Status of women has also expressed its deep concern on the matter.
He said that there is one women’s centre is in Swat - a post-conflict area and that the closure of this centre will be criminal because women in this area will have absolutely no place for shelter.
The centres were established by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in her second tenure as prime minister. In 2008, the government renamed all the crisis centres operating under the umbrella of the Women Development Ministry as Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women Crisis Centres.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2012.
With the closure of Women Crisis Centres in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), more women victims of violence and abuse have been left abandoned.
In June, the provincial government said all centres in the province should stop their activities and withdrew financial assistance to them, citing a lack of funds.
The employees of the centres in Swat, Abbottabad, Peshawar and Kohat received their termination letters on June 14, following which Social Welfare, Special Education and Women Empowerment departments took to the courts to challenge the decision.
Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan issued an order on June 22 against the termination notification and said all petitioners shall retain their original positions and get salaries until further orders.
However, this was not followed through and on Tuesday, the PHC ordered the concerned departments to release pending salaries till December 15 and ordered the social welfare secretary to appear in person on the next date of hearing on January 15, 2013.
The manager at the crisis centre in Swat, Nusrat (who goes by one name), said that neither have any salaries been given since June 14, nor has the centre been given any other funds for operations.
Meanwhile, Provincial Minister for Social Welfare and Women Affairs Sitara Ayaz said: “It is not feasible to run the centres in the presence of its Darul Amaans (shelters) which perform the same function.”
She said that two centres were run in Peshawar, one by the K-P government and the other by the federal government. Due to a lack of resources, centres in Swat and Abbottabad were merged with Darul Amaans. She added that the Kohat centre was still functioning because there was no Darul Amaan in the area.
“A Darul Amaan is a type of halfway home where women are told to stay when they have cases pending in court”, said Mehergarh Centre for Learning Programmes Director Maliha Hussain, adding, “these institutions are in essence mini-jails meant to provide shelter to women who have moved against their male counterparts in court.”
Hussain said that there is a dire need for putting pressure on the government to retain the centres because they are providing valuable services to women.
Qamar Naseem, Programme Coordinator of End Violence Against Women (EVAW) alliances in
K-P and the tribal areas said that the government’s assertion that Darul Amaans provide the same service is incorrect because of the difference in mandate of the two institutions.
He added that the closure of women crisis centres will have a very drastic effect on women survivors of violence. The National Commission on the Status of women has also expressed its deep concern on the matter.
He said that there is one women’s centre is in Swat - a post-conflict area and that the closure of this centre will be criminal because women in this area will have absolutely no place for shelter.
The centres were established by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in her second tenure as prime minister. In 2008, the government renamed all the crisis centres operating under the umbrella of the Women Development Ministry as Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women Crisis Centres.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2012.