ISLAMABAD – The United States (U.S.) Department of State and UN Women (the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women) Headquarters signed a three-year agreement, providing a grant of USD 3.5 million to support UN Women Pakistan’s initiative: “Prevention and Protection of Women from Violence Through Access to Justice, Services and Safe Public Spaces.” This announcement was shared during a launch ceremony held in Islamabad.
In welcoming representatives from the federal and provincial Governments, civil society and development partners, Jamshed Kazi, Country Representative, UN Women Pakistan stated: “Today is an exciting day for UN Women as we welcome the high-level commitment and strong support from the U.S. State Department to considerably bolster access justice, essential services and safe public spaces for women and girls facing violence in Pakistan.” “Every year, hundreds of women have abused physically or sexually at home and in public with very few reporting such crimes and even fewer convictions. The recently passed tougher laws on anti-honor killings and rape, however, are reasons to be optimistic. This demonstrates the government’s commitment to plug the legal loopholes and create a greater enabling environment for our program interventions in the provinces towards ending violence against women and girls,” he added.
H.E. William Brownfield, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State and Chief Guest in his remarks expressed deep commitment of the U.S. State Department to partner with UN Women in ending violence against women in Pakistan and said: “This programme will not only help bring justice to the women and girls of today’s Pakistan but help prevent violence in the future. Pakistani professionals will now have the tools, resources, and facilities they need to ensure that the good intent of recent laws can be translated into actions that positively impact lives.”
Salient features of the program “Prevention and Protection of Women from Violence Through Access to Justice, Services and Safe Public Spaces” covering the provinces of Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh were presented, and include the initial focus on enhancing women and girls’ access to justice, services, and safe spaces across several pilot districts. Key interventions through this partnership were shared as capacity enhancement of key stakeholders including law enforcement agencies and service providers; increased public awareness of prevalence and causes of violence against women; data collection through safety audits; and refurbishment of women’s protection facilities and exploring the establishment of women protection units. In order to build the capacities of key stakeholders including law enforcement agencies and service providers, a thorough assessment of justice and protection services will be carried out in the inception phase and the priority areas will be finalized in consultation with the key stakeholders.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Muhammed Arshad (Director General Human Rights, Ministry of Human Rights) welcomed today’s initiative being launched by UN Women and the US State Department to prevent and protect women from violence through access to justice, services and safe public space, and pledged the Government of Pakistan’s support to work with UN Women for its implementation. Other guest speakers included Hashim Nadeem Khan (Secretary, Women Development Department, Balochistan), Bushra Aman (Secretary, Women Development Department, Punjab) and Mudassir Iqbal (Secretary, Women Development Department, Sindh).