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.

Source(s):
‘Battered Wives in Pakistan’, Human Rights Police Conference, Lahore, 2001, NPA/CEDAW progress report for Government of Punjab, 37, 2000
Insights #43 'Getting rights right: Is access to justice as important as access to health or education?' Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 2 October 2002

Further Information:
Alison Lochhead

Contact the contributor: alison.lochhead@btinternet.com

Other related links:
See id21's links page on Access to Justice

'Having their say - children's views on sexual abuse and exploitation'

'Reducing violence through cultural equality'