Rights bodies’ convention demands anti-harassment committees at all workplaces

On the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women that is observed every year on November 25, a convention organised by the Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) on Friday demanded that anti-harassment committees be formed at all the workplaces.

Zehra Khan of the HBWWF said the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed November 25 as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in 1999. This day is commemorated in the honour of three revolutionary sisters, Patria, Minerva, and Maria Tresa, who fought against notorious Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. The sisters and their husbands were imprisoned and tortured, but they refused to give in and sacrificed their lives for the cause of the country's freedom and democratic order.

Zehra said persistent violence against women had a significant impact on the lives of working women everywhere. She termed violence against women a violation of human rights and barrier to gender equality.

Stating that the anti-harassment law was passed in Pakistan in 2010, she said the law must be properly implemented, and trade unions must provide safe venues for women to report harassment situations and remove any barriers to their speaking out.

Nasir Mansoor of the NTUF said that given the impunity, silence, stigma and shame that surrounded it, violence against women and girls was one of the most pervasive and terrible human rights violations of our time.