WUNRN
January 22, 2010
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2010statements/2392/
The AHRC
has received photographs from Mr. Javed Kapoor showing the extent of the
gender-based violence in
On January 26, 2010, a bill regarding Acid Violence, which would specifically
target those crimes by stating higher punishments for the attackers and by
regulating the sale and purchase of acid, has been submitted to the National
Assembly of Pakistan. But this only marks the beginning of a long legislative
process, and it will require some time before the law is successfully adopted
and effectively enforced. It will also require a strong political will which,
until now, have proven inadequate, if not, inexistent. Indeed, in most of those
cases, the judicial institutions have not taken stern sanctions against the
perpetrators, which have often been able to act and walk away in total
impunity. Nor has adequate compensation and support been granted to the
victims.
|
Irum Saeed, 30,
poses for a photograph at her office at the Urdu University of Islamabad,
Pakistan, Thursday, July 24, 2008. |
|
Shameem Akhter, 18,
poses for a photograph at her home in |
|
Shehnaz Usman, 36,
poses for a photograph in |
|
Najaf Sultana, 16,
poses for a photograph at her home in |
|
Shahnaz Bibi, 35,
poses for a photograph in |
|
Kanwal Kayum, 26,
adjusts her veil as she poses for a photograph in |
|
Munira Asef, 23,
poses for a photograph in |
|
Memuna Khan, 21,
poses for a photograph in |
|
Zainab Bibi, 17,
adjusts her veil as she poses for a photograph in |
|
Naila Farhat, 19,
poses for a photograph in |
|
Saira Liaqat, 26,
poses for the camera at her home in |
The case of Naila Farhat (picture above) has been brought to the
Supreme Court of Pakistan in November 2008 and has received enormous publicity.
In this specific case, the perpetrator was sentenced to 12 years of prison and
ordered to pay Rupees 1.2 millions in damages. This represents a landmark
decisions in dealing with gender-related violence, but this judgment could not
stop the menace of acid-throwing. This decision should not be a lure and we
should be aware that this remains an exception in the landscape of acid attacks
in
Most of those acid-attacks are punishing measures toward women who have refused
to accede to commands from men in their entourage and have stood against abuses
from men in general. The effects of those acid attacks upon their life have
been destructive: let alone the physical damages undergone (some of them are
crippled for life, despite numerous surgical interventions) they have to face
social isolation and ostracism from their community and the psychological
trauma is enormous and long-lasting as well. a legislation can hardly act as a
deterrent when the perpetrators know that if they have enough resources and leverages
they can manage to get away from any charge that may be held against them, even
in the case of such an atrocious crime.
From the victimsˇ¦ point of view, there is a high risk of denial of Justice and
those obstacles may act as a strong disincentive, preventing them from
reporting those attacks. Indeed, the status of women in Pakistan, subject on
the one hand to pressures not to disgrace their families by filling a case, and
on the other hand, to disdain from the police officers themselves, will add to
the obstacles faced by any average Pakistani person seeking for Justice who
have to deal with this corrupted policing system and administration. There is
also a need to implement concrete measures to improve the police investigation
system.
# # #
About
AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental
organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in
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