By Asim Hussain
ISLAMABAD: Sharmeela Rassool Country Representative UN Women, Pakistan was called on Federal Minister for Human Rights Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada at his office here Thursday.
Secretary Human Rights Afzal Latif and other senior officers of the Ministry were also present in the meeting. Areas of mutual interest and collaboration for gender equality and women empowerment were discussed in the meeting.
Ms. Rassool briefly shared the progress on multiple ongoing programs in the country by the UN Women in collaboration with different public sector organizations that are aimed at uplifting the women’s rights and gender equality to attain sustainable development in Pakistan.
She apprised that a number of gender responsive plans and policies have been designed in consultation with various stakeholders for creating conducive and enabling environment for women belonging to every segment of the society.
She acknowledged the progressive legislation on women rights in Pakistan but also mentioned the challenges in their proper implementation.
She recognized the role of Ministry of Human Rights for starting work on National Policy particularly on awareness campaigns for ending Violence Against Women that is one of the major hurdles in the fulfilment of international commitments.
Further, she requested for the support in making effectively functional of gender specific digital portal established at National Commission on the Status of Women by aligning it with updated data compilation.
The minister welcomed the Country Representative and appreciated the role of UN Women for extending its all out support for protection and promotion of women’s rights in Pakistan.
He said that the present government under the visionary leadership of Prime Minster Shahbaz Sharif was proactively engaging relevant stakeholders on different programs related to women empowerment and gender equality to create an inclusive environment.
He added that the Ministry of Human Rights had different set of mechanisms for data collection which also include HRMIS that could be effectively utilized for policy formulation.
He said that the Ministry was also working on women engagement model for more women empowerment in the country. He further assured his support for fully exhausting the current resources and linkages in existing system for better projection of idea of gender equality in the society.
