ISLAMABAD: The US State Department on Thursday pledged to provide $3.5 million to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) to help prevent violence against women in Pakistan.
A three-year agreement has been signed in this regard between the US State Department and the UN Women Pakistan for providing the grant to support the initiative: Prevention and Protection of Women from Violence Through Access to Justice, Services and Safe Public Spaces.
A ceremony was held on Thursday at a local hotel to mark the signing of the agreement. In welcoming representatives from the federal and provincial governments, civil society and development partners, UN Women Pakistan Country Representative Jamshed Kazi said that the grant would be helpful in providing justice to women.
“Today is an exciting day for UN Women as we welcome the high-level commitment and strong support from the US State Department to considerably bolster access to justice, essential services and safe public spaces for women and girls facing violence in Pakistan. Every year, hundreds of women are abused physically or sexually at home and in public with very few reporting such crimes and even fewer convictions. The recently passed tougher laws on anti-honour killings and rape, however, are reasons to be optimistic. This demonstrates the government’s commitment to plug the legal loopholes and create a greater enabling environment for our programme interventions in the provinces towards ending violence against women and girls,” he said.
In his remarks, US Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield expressed the deep commitment of the US State Department to partner with UN Women in ending violence against women in Pakistan. “This programme will not only help bring justice to the women and girls of today’s Pakistan, but help prevent violence in the future. Pakistani professionals will now have the tools, resources, and facilities they need to ensure that the good intent of recent laws can be translated into actions that positively impact lives,” he said.
The programme covers Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh. Its initial focus is on enhancing women and girls’ access to justice, services and safe spaces across several pilot districts. Key interventions through this partnership are: capacity enhancement of key stakeholders including law enforcement agencies and service providers; increased public awareness on prevalence and causes of violence against women; data collection through safety audits; and refurbishment of women’s protection facilities and exploring the establishment of women protection units. In order to build the capacities of key stakeholders including law enforcement agencies and service providers, a thorough assessment of justice and protection services will be carried out in the inception phase and the priority areas will be finalized in consultation with the key stakeholders.
