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Gender violence in Pakistan
Breaking the cycle
How can people subjected to gender violence secure justice when the
violence and abuse they suffer may not even be recognised as a crime?
What obstacles do abused women and children in Pakistan face and how can
they best be supported in seeking justice?
The women and girls of Pakistan suffer many forms of gender violence,
such as child marriages, forced marriages and exchange of women in 'watta
satta' (where siblings of one family are married off to the siblings of
another family). These, among others, are not even recognised as violence
by society. Other forms of gender violence within the family, although
seen as criminal, are not treated as such - for example 'honour' killings
and stove and acid burnings of women by family members, (in which women
are killed or maimed when they are thought to have behaved immorally or
when dowries are not paid) and other physical, psychological and sexual
abuses.
The options for women and children in Pakistan to seek help are limited,
as found in a DFID-funded scoping and design mission for the Pakistan
Government in 2001, to assist in the development of the National Strategy
for Family Protection. To date, the response of the legal system and other
professional bodies in dealing with this problem is to contain them within
the norms of the social structure, rather than to challenge the behaviour
of those perpetrating the abuse. There are also tensions in how they can
be supported to challenge the sources of their own oppression: any recourse
to justice is either through the male members of their family, who may
well be involved in the abuse, or through the traditional justice system,
which is biased in favour of men.
Access to the formal justice system is no less filled with difficulties.
Women and children who approach the police for help are quite likely to
be subjected to further abuse. For instance, any woman presenting herself
to police without a male 'protector' at hand is viewed as immoral. Although
it is estimated that eighty per cent of women are abused, since independence
in 1947 there has not been one successful prosecution of a husband for
injuring his wife.
Because informal and formal justice systems support patriarchal values
and ways of life, women and children who are abused have very little chance
of turning their situation around. A survey of reported court cases in
Pakistan from 1947 to 1992 shows that women use formal court procedures
less frequently than men and with generally less favourable outcomes.
Moreover, women who use the formal justice system may not only be wasting
time and money, but may also be exposing themselves to violent vengeance
in the family or community.
Pakistani women and children often look for help where they feel safest
- clinics, local NGOs, schools and local government councillors rather
than police stations or courts.
Taking action
Steps can be taken to give abused women and girls greater access to justice:
- Naming the problem: gender violence is rooted in cultural practice
and it is, therefore, essential always to ask - when is upholding a
cultural practice a breach of international human rights law, and when
is it an infringement of civil liberties?
- Breaking the cycle of violence: a preventative and supportive strategy
is needed to break both the conspiratorial silence around gender violence
and the practice of using more violence to enforce the silence.
- A multi-sectoral approach that involves healthcare, education and
community groups as well as formal justice institutions can help to
ensure the protection of individual rights within the family.
Alison Lochhead
Corgam
Bwlchllan
Lampeter
Ceredigion SA48 8QR
UK
T 01974 821358
F 01974 821599
alison.lochhead@btinternet.com
See also
'Battered Wives in Pakistan', Human Rights Police Conference, Lahore,
2001, NPA/CEDAW progress report for Government of Punjab, 37, 2000
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