Lahore: August 21, 2011. (PCP) Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM) organized a two-day orientation workshop on August 13-14, 2011 on the theme “Equipping the Activists to Defend Rights of Women with Disabilities”, which aimed at enhancing the understanding of participants about human rights, gender and disability concepts and standards, and sensitizing them for their role in defending human rights of people with disabilities. 23 Muslim and Christian participants including teachers, students, women with disabilities and representatives of civil society organizations actively participated in the workshop held at Dar-ul-Mussarat Training Institute in Lahore. The facilitators included; Naseem Anthony (Executive Secretary-AWAM), Bushra Khaliq (Director-WISE), Shafique-ur-Rehman (Milestone), Sadia Butt (MID), Suneel Malik (Director-PHD) and Shazia George (Coordinator-AWAM). Naseem Anthony said, “The people with disabilities do not only face hatred, discrimination, violence, deprivation and injustice in Pakistan, but this disadvantaged section of society is also commonly exploited due to the improper implementation on domestic laws & policies and unsatisfactory steps taken by the government.” “Pakistan is legally bound as per UN international law CRPD to take practical measures for creating enabling environment for persons with disabilities to lead an independent and painless life. Shafiq-ur-Rehman said, “The disability exists in infrastructure, society, thoughts and behaviors, but not within a person with impairment, resultantly people with disabilities face troubles for the execution of tasks in daily routine due to the inaccessible buildings and transportation in Pakistan, therefore the government must build favorable environment for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the mainstream.” Shazia George said, “There are negative impressions, behaviours and titles attributed to disability in our society, therefore the birth of children with disabilities is considered the sign of misfortune and punishment to the sins of parents.” “The irony is that persons with disabilities are prevented from participating in social activities, even they are deprived of the basic human rights such as; education, health, employment, marriage, movement etc., therefore families must provide equal opportunities and rights to persons with disabilities for their personal development and physical & mental growth as well,” she added. Sadia Butt said, “The people with disabilities are able to perform many tasks, but the society has made them disabled due to unavailability of accessible environment for them, therefore they must have authority to take decisions attached to their own lives for their empowerment.” “Social, economic, political and religious rights must be ensured to all human beings irrespective of any discrimination on the basis of disability, faith, gender, caste, color and ethnicity etc., and appropriate steps must be taken to empower underprivileged groups for establishing an inclusive, accessible and barrier-free society,” she added. Suneel Malik said, “The goal of the promotion of human rights education is to bring about positive change in behaviours towards marginalized groups, and to struggle for framing domestic policies and legislation in line with universally accepted standards.” “No society can be civilized without the respect of human rights, therefore peace, harmony, justice, tolerance and prosperity prevails in those societies only where the rights of deprived groups are respected and protected,” he added. Bushra Khaliq said, “Women’s rights are immensely exploited in Pakistan due to the dominance of patriarchal system in our society.” “Women must be provided with equal opportunities and resources without any discrimination, and appropriate measures must be taken to remove social, cultural, religious, legal and political barriers in the way of women’s progress,” she added.