EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Eight years into its democratic transition, violence against women is
still endemic in Pakistan, amid a climate of impunity and state
inaction. Discriminatory legislation and a dysfunctional criminal
justice system have put women at grave risk. Targeted by violent
extremists with an overt agenda of gender repression, women’s security
is especially threatened in the conflict zones in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). On 8
March, International Women’s Day, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed that
his government would take all necessary legislative and administrative
steps to protect and empower women. If this pledge was in earnest, his
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government should end
institutionalised violence and discrimination against women, including
by repealing unjust laws, countering extremist threats, particularly in
KPK and FATA, and involving women and their specially relevant
perspectives in design of state policies directly affecting their
security, including strategies to deal with violent extremist groups.
Women in the past were the principal victims of state policies to
appease violent extremists. After democracy’s return, there has been
some progress, particularly through progressive legislation, much of it
authored by committed women’s rights activists in the federal and
provincial legislatures, facilitated by their increased numbers in
parliament. Yet, the best of laws will provide little protection so long
as social attitudes toward women remain biased, police officers are not
held accountable for failing to investigate gender-based crimes, the
superior judiciary does not hold the subordinate judiciary accountable
for failing to give justice to women survivors of violence, and
discriminatory laws remain on the books.
Laws, many remnants of General Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamisation in the 1970s
and 1980s, continue to deny women their constitutional right to gender
equality and fuel religious intolerance and violence against them. Their
access to justice and security will remain elusive so long as legal and
administrative barriers to political and economic empowerment remain,
particularly the Hudood Ordinances (1979), FATA’s Frontier Crimes
Regulations (FCR) (1901) and the Nizam-e-Adl (2009) in KPK’s
Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA).
The government has a constitutional obligation and international
commitments, including under the UN Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), to combat gender
inequality and remove such barriers to women’s empowerment. Repealing
discriminatory legislation and enforcing laws that protect women,
including by ensuring that they have access to a gender-responsive
police and courts, are essential to ending the impunity that promotes
violence against women.
The extent to which rights violations go unpunished is particularly
alarming in FATA and KPK, where women are subjected to state-sanctioned
discrimination, militant violence, religious extremism and sexual
violence. Militants target women’s rights activists, political leaders
and development workers without consequences. The prevalence of informal
justice mechanisms in many parts of Pakistan, particularly in
Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, are also highly discriminatory toward women; and
the government’s indiscriminate military operations, which have
displaced millions, have further aggravated the challenges they face in
the conflict zones.
In KPK and FATA, and indeed countrywide, women’s enhanced meaningful
presence in decision-making, including political participation as voters
and in public office, will be central to sustainable reform. Pakistan
should invest in their empowerment and reflect their priorities in all
government policies, including counter-insurgency and peacebuilding
efforts. All too often, women comprise a majority of both the intended
victims of the insurgency and the unintended victims of the
counter-insurgency response.
National and provincial legislation to enhance protections for women
is a step in the right direction, but much more is needed to safeguard
them against violence and injustice and ultimately to consolidate
Pakistan’s democratic transition.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To curb violence against women and promote gender equity
To the executives and legislatures of Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments:
01. Respecting international commitments and
constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights, the National Assembly
should amend all laws that discriminate against women in the Penal Code
and Evidence Act and repeal the Hudood Ordinances in their entirety; all
provincial legislatures should pass and implement laws to protect and
empower women, including by criminalising and taking effective measures
to prevent domestic violence.
02. The National Assembly should approve the Anti-Rape Laws (Criminal
Laws Amendment) Act, the Anti-Honour Killings Laws (Criminal Laws
Amendment) Act and the Torture, Custodial Death and Custodial Rape
(Prevention and Punishment) Act, passed by the Senate in March 2015.
03. The national legislature should establish a quota of general
(directly-elected) National Assembly seats, in addition to the existing
reserved (unelected) seats, for women legislators, and the parliament’s
rules of procedures should be amended to ensure a certain number of
parliamentary committees are headed by women.
04. The federal and provincial governments should prioritise the
development of a gender-responsive security apparatus, including by
increasing the numbers of policewomen, particularly in senior positions;
building police capacity to investigate crimes against women; and
strengthening the National Police Bureau (NPB) and its gender crimes
cell’s liaison with provincial authorities.
05. The provincial governments should build the capacity of the
Provincial Commissions on the Status of Women (PCSW) to monitor
violations of women’s rights and to ensure that government policies and
legislation produce gender equality and women’s empowerment.
To the international community, particularly the UN and donor countries:
06. Continue and enhance support for developing
gender-responsive policing and women’s rights bodies; also ensure that
women’s needs, rights and priorities are meaningfully addressed in all
aid programing.
To protect and empower women in conflict-affected areas
To the federal government and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) provincial government:
07. Repeal the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) in FATA and the
Nizam-e-Adl in PATA and extend the jurisdiction of superior courts to
FATA so that citizens there can seek protection of the fundamental
rights the constitution guarantees them.
08. Include women and protect their rights and interests in counter-insurgency and peacebuilding strategies.
09. Promote civilian-led and civilian-devised humanitarian assistance
and take measures to ensure that displaced women receive timely and
adequate assistance, including by facilitating national and
international NGOs’ access to areas of displacement and investigating
allegations of discriminatory assistance.
10. The federal and KPK governments should ensure that women can
exercise their rights of franchise and to stand for public office; and
the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should investigate all cases
of women having been barred from voting or contesting elections.
To the international community, particularly the UN and donor countries:
11. Ensure that women’s needs are adequately
assessed in relief and rehabilitation assistance to conflict-affected
and internally displaced persons.
12. Encourage the federal government to repeal the FCR and
Nizam-e-Adl and to support women’s rights in the conflict zones and
participation in the development of counter-insurgency/counter-terrorism
policies and peacebuilding efforts. Islamabad/Brussels, 8 April 2015 (ICG)
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