Combating Institutionalized Discrimination and Gender-Based Violence in Pakistan

Combating Institutionalized Discrimination and Gender-Based Violence in Pakistan Written by: Mohsin Khan Edited by: Eghosa Asemota and Nida Mahmud By the time you finish reading this article, somewhere in the world, a woman will have suffered an act of violence, ranging from domestic abuse, burning, sexual assault, sexual harassment, incest, acid attacks, and murder. Be it forced marriages and “honor killings” in Pakistan, ruthless femicide in India, or trafficking in Nepal, women face a barrage of physical and psychological dangers. Globally, as reported by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), more than thirty-five percent of women suffer from either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non- partner at some point in their lives. However, some nation-wide studies of Pakistan showed that up to seventy percent of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from [1] an intimate partner in their lifetime. The State of Gender Based Violence in Pakistan In Pakistan, the social protection of women is articulated in Article thirty-two and thirty- eight of the Constitution of 1973 and affirmed in the country’s status as a signatory of various regional and international treaties seeking to protect women’s rights and promote gender equality (i.e., the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women). Moreover, since 1960, the government has taken progressive steps to legislate various issues pertaining to women and their rights such as reviving family laws like a woman’s right to divorce, marry, vote, and work. Pakistan’s eighteenth and twenty-first amendments, which decentralize education, health, and women development departments, have bestowed provinces with the power to legislate over these sectors and have fostered localized efforts to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals at the grassroots level. The National Assembly has also unanimously passed several laws, such as the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Bill (2011), the Anti-Honor and Anti-Rape Law (2016), which explicitly recognizes acid burn victims, defines domestic violence, and recognizes forced marriages and karo-kari (honor killings) as criminal acts. These landmark policies signal the Pakistani government’s commitment to the welfare of women. Likewise, the Prevention of Acid Crimes and Control Bill (2011) and the Sexual Harassment Act (2010) also give a ray of [2] hope for women victimized by gender-based violence. | 1 Combating Institutionalized Discrimination and Gender-Based Violence in Pakistan A State Failure? Despite the government’s efforts to eliminate gender-based violence (GBV), increasing incidents of violence have festered within the country’s patriarchal system. According to an independent report authored by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, more than 800 women either were killed or attempted suicide due to sexual assault, kidnappings, acid [3] attacks, amputations, or burnings. The year 2014 was marked by the highest number of gender-based violence cases since 2008, an over twenty-eight percent increase since the [4] previous year. Karo-kari, the practice of killing women to preserve a family’s honor has been among the worst crimes waged against women, claiming 1000 lives annually in [5] Pakistan. Experts on gender and social issues have identified various reasons for the proliferation of these practices. Namely, these include a pervasive parochial and patriarchal mindset, weak institutions, imperfect or outdated laws and policies, along with public ignorance. Women are confronting “a unique set of antediluvian laws and customs after Zia’s radical social and [6] legal reforms in 1979, carried out in the name of Islamization of the laws.” The prevailing extramarital ordinance known as Zina Hudood Ordinance, grounded in Islamic theology, governs the arbitration of cases involving adultery, sexual assault, and fornication, often prescribing death as punishment. The ordinance also impedes women’s ability to defend themselves. Critics of the ordinance argue that “trial remains skewed against women since the victim has to provide four male eye-witnesses to testify her rape or she will be trialed for an adultery case. Additionally, the Islamic law of evidence suggests that one woman’s testimony carries half (or no) legal weight and she cannot testify on her behalf. This [7] ordinance becomes an instrument for subjugating females.” Despite the harm caused by these laws, the government presents an apologetic attitude as opposed to an ambitious one when it comes to challenging these outdated laws, mainly because of the strong feudalistic and patriarchal system that pervades the country. Illuminating how Islamic principles are enforced chiefly by male politicians, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) rejected a parliamentary bill last year that would have given women the right to divorce and the right to abortion, calling it “un-Islamic and unethical in local culture” and capable of destroying [8] the family system in Pakistan,” and adding that “women can be lightly beaten by men.” Furthermore, patrilineal inheritance, the deprivation of women’s property rights, along with gender disparities in education, access to health, legal aid, and participation in economic activities continue to be neglected by the state. | 2 Combating Institutionalized Discrimination and Gender-Based Violence in Pakistan Combating Violence Against Women Considering the state’s inadequate response to gender-based violence, the question of how to end violence against women, rooted in religion or social norms, in Pakistan lingers. It is important to note, firstly, that violence against women is not a fundamental component of Islamic ideology but its incidence is the result of the misapplication, misinterpretation, and the sometimes outright denial of the ideology in a restricted society like Pakistan. The justification used for Pakistan’s parochial systems and rules is taken from Islamic principles; [9] but the religion itself promotes gender equality, such as the right to education for all. Nonetheless, much of the practices in Pakistan and in other Islamic states deviate from the origins of Islam. Most of those practices are supported on cultural ground or traditional [10] customs, being promulgated into societies. As Mir Hosseini Ziba has argued, family laws in Islam are the result of sociocultural assumptions and juristic reasoning about the nature of relations between men and women. In other words, they are “man-made” juristic constructs, shaped by the social, cultural, and political conditions within which Islam’s sacred texts are [11] understood and turned into law. The community derives this interpretation of Islam based [12] on its own prevailing customs and cultural norms. Parallel justice systems in Pakistan, such as Jirga and Panchayat, are generally apathetic towards women’s concerns and grievances, and, therefore, the existence of both legal and religious safeguards do not percolate into the social structure. Another important factor to note is the prevalence of fear among women, which often significantly prevents them from asserting their rights in male-dominated societies like Pakistan. Though Islamic law grants the freedom of expression and allows women to express their concerns, society unlawfully imposes punishments on those who assert their individual [13] rights that counter the prescribed norms of the tribe or the community. Thus, the malevolence of parochial culture overshadows the notions of peace and equality in Islam. The fractured judicial system in Pakistan is another major contributor to the incidence of gender-based violence (GBV). The judicial system continually fails to provide protection and legal aid to women. In addition to weak law enforcement institutions, the prevalence of injustice, and the inefficient implementation of policies due to either limited funds or improper training, the issue is bound to worsen. The wide gap between law and its implementation, along with the denial to provide legal assistance to the victims has been observed at the local level. Therefore, an immediate step towards eliminating gender-based violence is to bring major judicial reforms with SMART objectives to upgrade or develop | 3 Combating Institutionalized Discrimination and Gender-Based Violence in Pakistan laws/bylaws, provide timely and economical relief to the victims (avoiding delay in court decision/proceedings etc.), and most importantly enforce these laws in the society. This may create a vibrant judicial ecosystem, adequate for providing protection and legal aid to women. Moreover, government can abolish the parallel judicial system of Jirga and Panchayat through participatory consultation with the local religious authorities. Another important step is to increase the number of female judges serving in courts, given that, out [14] of the 1830 judges in the lower judiciary, only 266 are women. Women’s rights in matters of inheritance and property also need to be updated. According to the survey results of 1,000 rural households in Punjab, of the thirty-six percent of women [15] who had property rights, only nine percent had control over their property. The government should reform existing inheritance laws to ensure women’s autonomy over the land they own. Similarly, the government needs to build a strong monitoring and evaluation system for law and order agencies, like police

Load more