As the world celebrated Human Rights Day on Monday, 10 December, one of Pakistan's most prominent activists told IRIN that women's rights in the country had not improved under President Pervez Musharraf despite his promises of giving women more power. "The situation has not changed in that the state has not taken any affirmative action towards improving their rights," human rights lawyer and the UN's Special Rapporteur on Extra Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions of the Commission on Human Rights, Asma Jahangir said. "You have a few female ministers and a few women in what we call decision making, although decision making is now done by the core commanders of the army," she said, adding that the government's talk regarding empowerment of women was "basically for the consumption of the outside world". Jahangir said that women would only have a louder voice in a participatory democracy and that under a military regime there were only short term gains for all female groups. "In the long term it is charity and it is not sustained because it is not a genuine movement or process," she explained. She noted however, that women themselves had made a great deal of effort in trying to overcome obstacles that have been more social and economic, but have had less success in overcoming obstacles created by the government itself. Regarding the worst abuses of women's rights, Jahangir cited domestic violence as being high on the list, saying that there were laws that almost justified that kind of violence in Pakistan. "For example we have a law under which a victim of rape runs the risk of being accused of adultery herself and it is not just theoretical because everyday we see through our work hundreds of women sitting in prisons where they have made allegations of rape themselves but find themselves involved in the legal system," she explained. One of the most horrific crimes against women, she said was the fact that they are killed because they do not conform to behaviour set out by society. "I would say that in about 99 percent of these cases nobody is brought to justice," she added. "There is a law in our country where the victims can forgive the murderer and as it is usually the relatives who kill the woman, as happens all the time," she added, saying that there had been one or two cases which have gone to the Supreme Court, but were still awaiting a decision. The status of honour killings in Pakistan had also not changed according to the human rights lawyer. "We are now learning more about it and we know that there is at least one honour killing per day." She went on to list other common methods of torturing and killing women in Pakistan including throwing acid over them, and cutting off noses and ears. Jahangir said that in the 20 years of her practicing law she had not seen anyone being punished for such crimes, except in one case where the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto took up the case herself and the person was with great difficulty punished. Asked why such horrific crimes are often overlooked in Pakistan, Jahangir said: "We have a country which is politically unstable and when you are ridden with one crisis after another I'm afraid it does not have an impact on the human rights situation, because they take a back seat." She added, however, that at least some issues were being brought to light. "Despite the fact that the senate did not pass a resolution against honour killings, the matter was highlighted and there were angry statements on both sides, so you had people taking positions on it." In a country where women remain largely subservient to men, she said that although there was not one single recipe to empower women, there were a few areas in which that process could begin. The activist said in order to have women empowered there needed to be clear laws and policies coupled with the government taking affirmative action on this issue. While acknowledging education as an important factor in raising the profile of females, she said that there also needed to be a stronger women's movement. Jahangir said women's rights in Pakistan were lagging behind the region. "There are not enough opportunities for redress and justice and we are far behind the other countries except for Bhutan or the Maldives," she said. She added that Pakistani women could have a great future if there was a stronger network of women striving for their rights. "I think Pakistani women have a great sense of survival and dignity," she said. "They are very resilient so I have great hope in that they will not only advance but they will get society to be a better society because of their efforts," she maintained.
source:www.irinnews.org
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