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16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence
16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence
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Candle light vigilAurat Foundation organized a candle light vigil, on 25 November 2009 atLahore, to raise the voices opposed to 'violence against women'. The pur-pose of the event was to mark the '16 Days of Activism' against gender-based violence. Ms Nigar Ahmad, Exective Director of Aurat Foundationand representatives of civil society organizations i.e. GJTMAP-Punjab,Kashf Foundation, MDM, SAP-Pk joined the vigil and chanted slogans likeAurton per tashadud band karo, Zulmon say azad zindagi hamara haq hai,Zulm ke Zabty ham nahi manty etc. Lawyers, social and political activistsand media person also participated in the vigil to support the internationalcall on women's rights.
16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence is a regular feature every year around the world as part of a global movement to raise awareness, toaddress policy and legal issues, to campaign for the protection of survivors of violence and to call for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence.The 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute sponsoredby the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates, November 25 as International Day for Violence against Women andDecember 10 as International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such vio-lence is a violation of human rights. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates including November 29 as International Women HumanRights Defenders Day; December 1 as World AIDS Day; and December 6, which marks the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. The 25th of November,the day that marks the start of the campaign, was declared International Day against Violence against Women at the first Feminist Encounter for LatinAmerica and the Caribbean held in Bogotá, Colombia in 1981. This day was chosen to commemorate the death of the Mirabel sisters in 1960 by the dicta-torship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. The day was officially recognized by the United Nations in 1999 as the International Day for theElimination of Violence against Women. Since the General Assembly designated November 25, as the international day for the elimination of violenceagainst women, the circle of engagement has widened. More groups and individuals are getting involved to prevent and address these heinous violations ofwomen's human rights. There has been significant progress at the national level as many countries have adopted laws and comprehensive action plans toaddress the issue.
Country's police force has beenunder criticism for one reason or theother. In the current war against ter-rorism, however, they have emergedthe targeted victims and need sup-port from public and civil society.Realizing this need, AuratFoundation Peshawar decided tocelebrate Human Right Day thisyear with police on 10 December2009.
The objective of the event was toacknowledge the services of policein current law and order situation.In order to show solidarity, a groupconsisting provincial assemblymembers, Ms Sanjida Yousaf(PPPP) and Ms Tabassum Shams(ANP), members of civil societyorganizations including KhewendoKor, Shirkatgah, Noor EducationTrust ,CAMP, Director of PoliceDepartment Human Rights Cell and
media persons visited the two blastsites to present white flowers topolice officials.
The group first visited the sessioncourts and placed the floral wreath
on the blast site and presented whiteflowers to the police officials presentthere on duty. The group also visitedjudicial complex, placed floralwreath on the blast site, paid homageto the blast victims and presented
flowers to the officers on duty.
The team also visited the office ofMr Liaquat Ali, CCPO, for a good-will gesture that the entire nationacknowledges police force's sacri-fices for peace in the country. MrLiaquat Ali appreciated the efforts ofCSOs for showing solidarity withthe police force and said that policefeels encouraged knowing that theirefforts to maintain peace and fightterrorism are being acknowledged.eshawar's police department isdefending the city without even thebasic equipment of surveillance.Ms. Shabina Ayaz, ResidentDirector, AF Peshawar, said that thegovernment should provide policewith the latest surveillance equip-ment and compensate the families ofthe police officials who laid theirlives while protecting the lives ofthe citizens. � AF report
Rally against violence
In order to mark the '25 December - the International Day for the Eliminationof Violence against Women', Aurat Foundation organized a rally on 25November, 2009, from Karachi Press Club to Maulana Din MuhammadWafai Road. Women, children, civil society organizations, parliamentarians,media persons and people from different walks of life joined in the rally andenthusiastically displayed banners and raised slogans. The banners and plac-ards reflected the problems of women in Pakistan. Ms Nusrat Sahar Abbasi,member Sindh Assembly from PML-F, Ms Aleemunnisa, city councilor, MsHina Tabassum of SAFHR, Ms Shazia of PPP, and Sayed Shams of HRCPmade brief speeches on various aspects of the day.
Solidarity with police for saving citizens� lives
25th Nov -10th Dec 2009
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This year, Aurat Foundationarranged a series of activities in allits five offices to mark the 16 daysof activism against gender violence.Islamabad office launched the activ-ities for 16 days of activism againstgender violence on November 25,with an exposure visit of female sec-tion of Adiala jail Rawalpindi.Members of civil societyOrganizations, women rightsactivists and journalists were part ofthe delegation who visited femaleward in Adiala jail.
Aurat Foundation presented warmclothes and shawls to women andtoys to children. Surprisingly, theconditions at the jail for womenwere not as bad as normally per-ceived. There were no women pris-oners sitting on the floor or staringfrom behind the bars. According tothe jail officials, there are 140women prisoners living in thefemale section, though capacity isfor 120 prisoners, however, overallcondition of the barracks was notvery bad and these were clean andspacious. Prisoners were not con-fined to one place and they wereallowed to move freely within theircompounds. When enquired fromfemale prisoners, whether the
unusual better conditions had to dosomething with the visit by the civilsociety delegation, they said theconditions had generally improvedin recent years.
Majority of the women prisonerswere charged with drug cases andmost of them belonged to NWFP,basically they were only carriersbecause of the poverty withoutknowing the nature and conse-quences of the offence. These poorwomen were carrying drugs just forthe sake of 500 or 1000 rupees andnow they have to spend their rest ofthe life in jail. Prisoners involved inmurder or kidnapping were mostlyfrom Punjab. There were few for-eigners as well who were mostlyinvolved in drugs charges.
The saddest part of the story is thatthe majority of the accused women atprison were abandoned by their fam-ilies. There was a girl who was con-fined under petty offence butbecause of the non-availability of
surety bonds she was ailing in jailand none of the family members wasbothered to come and help her in get-ting out of the jail. There was anoth-er girl who was brought in prison fortrying to seek admission in a nursingschool with fake documents. Thehead clerk who prepared the forgeddocuments was released on bail butthe innocent 18 years old girl wassent behind the bars without realiz-ing the fact that that the time shespent in jail would label her criminalfor the rest of her life and when shewould come out, she would be nomore acceptable in society.
The positive change about femaleward was that the government hadappointed some educated and quali-fied female staff members; theseyoung female officers are qualifiedand more sensible to deal withfemale prisoners. The jail officialstold they were providing all possiblefacilities to women prisoners includ-ing skill trainings and reading mate-rial. There were about 14 children
imprisoned with their mothers someof them were born in jail. There isalso a lady teacher appointed infemale ward to give primary educa-tion to children and women. TheSuperintendent jail Mr. SaeedGondal said with the implementa-tion of the new judicial policy thingswere improving and during the lasttwo months the number of prisonershad decreased considerably.
The visit to Adiala jail has revealednot only the bitter realities of thelives of numerous prisoners but ithas also made us to think that anoth-er world exists inside the jail prem-ises which is very different from theworld we live and sometimesbecause of the unjust and corruptlegal system if some innocentwomen get trapped in prison, shehas to suffer all her life, as our soci-ety would never forgive her for thecrime she never committed. There isneed to push government to bringchanges in legal system, makestrong laws and effective policies toimprove the judicial system so thatinnocent women do not become vic-tim of the existing unjust legal sys-tem and oppressive society based onpatriarchal values of women's subor-dination. � AF report
A day with women prisoners at Adiala
On the second day of activism, i.e. on 26 November 2009, AF Lahore organ-ized a visit to Dar-ul-Aman of district Sheikhupura, so that to extend moralsupport to the sheltered women and children waiting for justice and care. Thevisiting group included Ms Sidra Hamayun from War against Rape (WAR),Ms Farwah from daily Ausaf, Ms Nabeela Shaheen and Abid Ali from AuratFoundation. The group shared with the sheltered women the objectives of the'16 Days of Activism', asked about the circumstances and reasons they wereforced to take refuge in Darulaman. The group also asked the Superintendentof Darulaman about the problems of resources and services.
Some moments with women in distress at a shelter homeAurat Foundation embarked on the '16-Days of Activism against Violence and Discrimination against Women' campaign by visiting the hapless women inshelter homes on 25 November 2009. A team including civil society activists and journalists visited Darulaman in Rawalpindi, at Shamasabad, which is sshelter home for women in distress. A number of 40 shelterless women and seven children are presently settled in Darulaman. Most of the women werevictims of domestic violence and main offenders in many of these cases were male members of the family. Dissolution of marriage or forced marriage wasfound the major cause behind these cases of domestic violence. According to the visiting team, women were admitted in Darulaman only after productionof court orders. In emergency cases, however, the court process turns counter-productive as the victim needs immediate protection. Women are permittedto stay in Darulaman for three months which is extendable according to the nature of case. They cannot leave Darul Aman on their own without courtorders. Most of the times, courts orders hand them over to their relatives who are mostly the offenders themselves. This practice needs review as in sucha situation, the sheltered women hesitate to leave Darulaman. There is no mechanism for technical education of the housed women and no school or nurs-ery for minors in Darulaman. The sheltered women demanded that court should take immediate action to solve their cases with special reference to domes-tic violence. The Shamasabad shelter home is functioning under the Ministry of Social Welfare, Punjab. � AF report
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AF's PDM-VAW team organized a focused group discussion on 'Situation ofpeace and security in Pakistan and its impact on women', at Peshawar on 4December 2009. The participants of the discussion included MemberProvincial Assembly Ms Nagis Sameen Khan, and members of civil socie-ty, media persons and lawyers.
Ms Shabina Ayaz, RD Aurat Foundation Peshawar, in her welcome address,said that women are treated as subordinates in this patriarchal system, there-fore, in situation of conflict and security these were women who suffer themost.
Ms Shirin Javed, PDM-VAW, presented the bi-annual account of cases ofviolence against women reported in media and briefed the participants aboutthe process and problems in collections of data on violence against women.
Mr Abdul Hai Kakar, senior journalist from BBC, whiles sharing his report-ing experience in conflict zones, said that he has not seen a single workingwoman in these areas. The discriminatory practices adopted by Talibanwere, thus, affecting social and economic lives of women there. Educationis the most devastated among the social sector as nearly 300 schools most-ly of females have been destroyed.
He said that agenda of Taliban of Swat is different from those operating inWaziristan area, as the former were forcing their ideology on common peo-ple through barbaric acts and women were the main target. � AF report
Impact of war on women
Aurat Foundation organized a fem-inist mushaira (poetry readingevent), as part of the activitiesunder 16 days of activism, on 3December 2009 at the Islamabadoffice. Eminent poetess andwomen's rights activist, KishwarNaheed participated as ChiefGuest. Shabnam Shakeel, TalatFarooq, Mehmooda Ghazia, Dur-e-Shehwar, Farah Deeba, Ali Yasir,Fatima-Tu- Zehra, Almas Shibi,Ghazanfar Hashmi, Noreen Talat,
Mohammad Rafiq, Mehboob Zafarand Akbar Abbas read their poetryon the occasion. Aliya Mirza mod-erated the event. Through theirpoetry, the poetesses and poetshighlighted different aspects ofphysical and psychological impactof violence on women. In a poeticexpression, they shared with theaudience the feelings of younggirls when they experience dis-crimination at the very outset oftheir bloom and which continues
till dearth. Kishwar Naheed'sfamous poem "Wo jo bachion sebhi daar gay" (those who areafraid of little girls) receivedtremendous applause from theaudience. The strong message inthe form of crisp small versesdelivered extempore by the greatpoetess was descriptive of thevoice of a women poet. Dedicatedto the menace of 'honour' killing,Shabnam Shakeel's "merey muhsi-no merey aadelo merey qatilo"
addressed all the actors involved inthis heinous act in a very sensitiveway. Her poem "meri taar taarmuhabaatein" also received bigapplause. In her poem, "Tikoon",Talat Farooq's narrated the journeyof a girl towards motherhood andin "Bilaunwan" she claimed thatpeople of Quraish who used tobury their girls were better thanfeudal of today. Her poem 'SoniaNaz ki farayad' also moved every-one in the audience. � AF report
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Taking the '16 Days' cele-brations to southernPunjab, Aurat FoundationLahore organized ademonstration on 'vio-lence against women' on25 November 2009 atBhakkar. The participantsrepresented various walksof life, lawyers, humanrights activists, womencouncilors and media per-sonnel.
Continuing the activismagainst violence and dis-crimination againstwomen, Aurat FoundationLahore organized anotherdemonstration inMianwali, on 6 December2009. Chanting variousslogans, the participantsdemanded the governmentto effectively implementthe available laws to reducethe gender violence.
Feminist mushaira on violence and discrimination against women
In order to reflect into and discussthe emotional and psychological dis-tress which women and childrengone through during the conflict inSwat, Aurat Foundation's PDM-VAW team organised a panel discus-sion on 'Impact of conflict situationson women and children', on 9December, 2009 at Islamabad.Gender experts Ms. Zehra Kamaland Dr Rakhshanda Parveen werethe resource persons and prominentwomen's rights activist TahiraAbdullah moderated the discussion.Participants included members fromcivil society organizations, acade-mia, media and students from FatimaJinnah Women University (FJWU).
Ms. Zehra Kamal and DrRakhshanda Parveen, the resourcepersons, discussed the socio- cultur-al, emotional and psychologicalimpact of conflict situations on
women and children. Ms. ZehraKamal said psychological effects ofblasts are long-lasting and hencemore destructive than the actualincident. Even the teachers and par-ents remain confused and agitatedover these incidents with so manyquestions in their minds, one couldimagine the state of children who
depend and trust on their teachersand parents for their protection. Shestressed that as children react to thefears and anxieties of adults, so oneshould stay clam. She also explainedthe strategies to combat with such asituation and advised the audience toshare these experiences further withfriends and family members.
Dr. RakhshandaParveen talkedabout socio-cultural impact of warand conflict situations on women.She also shared her personal experi-ences where she referred to manyrefugees being offended by the pro-vision of sewing machines and com-puters to the IDPs by some aid agen-cies. She told the audience that whena female IDP was asked about theoutcome of Swat violence in herview, she simply responded trauma.She said that administering poliodrops to kids in refugee camps is apositive development, which couldnot have been accomplished underthe Taliban. Ms. Tahira Abdullahregretted the lack of informationabout the exact number of refugeeshailing from Swat and SouthWaziristan, and denounced the useof the term 'beneficiaries' forwomen. � AF report
Impact of conflict situations on women & children
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Aurat Foundation organised a lec-ture by Ms. Asma Jahangir,Chairperson, Human RightsCommission of Pakistan, on"Derogation of human rights in con-flict situations" at a local hotel inIslamabad on 10 December 2009, tomark the International HumanRights Day. Dr Masuma Hasan,member Board of governors ofAurat Foundation and former cabi-net secretary presided over the func-tion.
Ms Asma Jahangir said that thereshould be rule of law in the countryand depoliticisation of human rightsshould be discouraged. She said thatthe government is accountable forwhatever is happening in the coun-try. She said that human rights mustbe respected and preserved at allcosts.
Asma Jahangir said that she wouldstand by the children of Taliban ifthey are picked up by the govern-ment despite her opposition toTaliban. She said we must make anoise whether the captive is aMuslim or not or the victim is aMuslim or not. She said it is time tothink beyond biases and stop hatingeach other. She debunked the myth
that a Muslim cannot kill a Muslim.
She said that hullabaloo about NROis not for ending corruption but itreflects chor machai shor (thievesmake noise) syndrome. She said thatwe must take care of the institution-alised corruption. Can a judge callgenerals in the dock asking did theyget plots out of their salary? What isrole of ISI and under what law intel-ligence agencies work?
Ms. Asma said that under the coverof War Against Terror, army started
a war in Balochistan. There was somuch disinformation that the oper-ation was termed as only againstsome tribal chiefs who wereagainst cantonments inBalochistan. She said that Armyasked Bugtis to get hold of Murrisand when Akbar Bugti refused,there was tension between Bugtisand Musharraf and Dr Shazia's caseaggravated the situation. She saidthat these Balochis are leftists andMusharraf referred to them asJehadis before the Americans whostrangely gulped the lie.
Why there was so noise on Kerry-Lugar bill, she asked. Who is askingto sell nukes like candies, she saidadding that they wanted to ensurethat money was spent for what it isbeing given. We must improve ourimage in the world which is goingdown, she said. She said that wehave confirmed information ofextra-judicial killings.
Ms. Asma Jahangir said that ICRCmust be given access to all prisonersand UNHRC and humanitarianagencies be given access to investi-gate. She said it is an obligation ofthe government under internationallaw to provide details about prison-ers and disappeared people. Duringthe question hour, she said that dic-tators all over the world do somewindow-dressing on women'srights. They pass some legislation inhurry usually having no teeth. Sheopposed giving farmlands to Saudis.
She also condemned US droneattacks in Pakistan. She said thatpoverty is not the root cause of ter-rorism; otherwise there would havebeen a revolution. The root cause isintolerance and fanaticism, shesaid.� AF report
Asma for depoliticisation of human rights
Aurat Foundation organized pressconference on cyber crimes againstwomen on December 4, atIslamabad press club in connectionwith the 16 days of activism againstgender violence. Aurat Foundation,Violence against women watchgroup and p@sha,ISPs strongly con-demned the increasing incidents ofcyber crimes against women inPakistan and termed it another formof violence.
President of Pakistan softwareHouse association for IT and ITESP@SHA Ms. Jehan Ara,Spokesperson Internet ServicesProviders Association of Pakistan(ISPAK) Mr. Wahaj-us-SirajMembers violence against womenWatch group Ms. Tahira Abdullahand Ms. Shabana Arif, Ms NayyarShabana Kiyani from AuratFoundation addressed the confer-ence. Explaining the ways in whichcyber crime is leading towards vio-lence against women Jehan Arasaid that internet is not creatingnew forms of crime against womenand children, but is creating newways and means for crime to beperpetrated.
She said that information and com-munication technologies encompassabroad range of technologies that
includes internet, mobile radio, andtelevision and wireless technologies.
She pointed out that large number ofPakistani women and girls are vic-tim of cyber crimes such as cyberstalking, pornography and morphingthrough internet and mobile phones.She said that Pakistani women alsosuffer exploitation through the mis-use of you tube, face book, mobileMMS.
Sickening cut and paste manipula-tion of manufactured or personaland its wide dissemination throughchat and pornographic sites and Cdsimmeasurably hurt young girls whoface subsequent loss of personal
freedom, mobility, recreation andmost importantly educational,employment and marriage opportu-nities.
Due to existing social mindset andlack of effective legislation oncyber crime, Ms. Jehan Ara saidcyber crimes had added to theplight of Pakistani women whoalready had to face other violentcrimes in Pakistani society such asdomestic violence ,Swara Wanni,Watta Satta, Hudood Ordinances,discriminatory laws lack of mobili-ty and empowerment and genderinequality. Thus, it becomes evenmuch harder to come out in publicand report cyber crimes.
Women's rights activist TahiraAbdullah said that the proposed billcarries massive violations ofFundamental rights, illegal invasionof privacy, sweeping arbitrary pow-ers of investigation and prosecutiongiven to FIA, vague definitions,huge lacunas in section 13(dealingwith cyber stalking); and dispropor-tionately severe penalties includingthe irreversible death penalty.
She further said that the currentbadly drafted bill ignores the exist-ing sexist and anti-women abuse ofcyberspace, which particularly tar-gets women politicians, civil societyactivists, and professional women inall occupations, especially womenartists and the media.
After the presentations AuratFoundation Civil Society activistsand Cyber and Soft ware expertsissued a joint statement anddemanded that the proposed CyberCrimes Bill (PECO) must beopened for public debate and dis-cussion, as well as soliciting inputsfor improvement from all the con-cerned stakeholders. There can beno reduction in Cyber Crimesagainst women unless people areaware of the proposed laws and thatthere is a strong law against cybercrimes.� AF report
Demand for end to cyber crimes against women
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