Faisalabad: November 28, 2011. (PCP) Peace and Human Development (PHD Foundation), Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM), Lyallpur Development Organization (LDO), CRC SPARC and Liaison for Enforcement of Human Rights (LEHR) jointly staged a demonstration titled “End Gender based Violence and Discrimination” to observe the international day for the elimination of violence against women on 23rd November 2011. This demonstration was held at the District Council in Faisalabad, and was joined by over 80 people from different walks of life including students, lawyers, representatives of trade unions, political parties and civil society organizations namely; PHD, POWER, AWAM, DOST, LDO, NCJP, RDS and Workers Party Pakistan. The demonstrators strongly condemned the inhuman and unethical treatment towards women witnessed in Pakistan on a daily basis, and urged the government to take tangible steps for the protection of women’s rights. They shouted slogans in support of women’s rights and in opposition to gender based violence, intolerance and discrimination. They were also holding placards and banners criticizing various forms of physical, sexual, emotional and economic violence in the family, community, and violence perpetrated or condoned by the state, including laws and customary practices against women, sexual harassment, the jirga system, murder, rape, forced abortion, women trafficking, forced prostitution, honour killing, forced conversion, forced marriages, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, genital mutilation, beating, stove-burning and acid attacks. Speaking on this occasion, Naseem Anthony, Nazia Sardar, Shazia George, Iftikhar Ahmad, Arif Ayaz, Mrs. Rizwana, Mrs. Naseem and Amir Shahzad expressed their grave concerns on the situation of women in Pakistan. The speakers discouraged the elements involved in inciting gender based hatred and violence in the society. Naseem Anthony said, “Violence is a serious violation of human rights, but majority of the people do not recognize many forms of gender based violence as crime in Pakistan, and consider it a part of our culture and fate of the women. Women being mistreated are not only acceptable, but even appreciated by many village locals and landlords to ‘keep women in check’, all of this stems from the honour and culture, because men in Pakistan tend to ascribe all loss of honour as a woman’s fault.” Shazia George stressed on the need for creation of new legislation to combat all forms of violence against women especially prevention against domestic violence and acid attacks. She lauded the passage of a recent bill approved by the National Assembly to prevent anti-women practices, and called upon the senate to prove its commitment towards empowerment of women by approving the pro-women bill without delay. Nazia Sardar termed ‘absence of proper legislation against gender based crimes’ and ‘huge acceptance for violence against women in Pakistani society’ the root causes behind the violation of women’s rights, resultantly gender based violence goes unnoticed, unchecked and unreported. The demonstrators for the prevention of gender based violence demanded that: Government must make discriminatory actions against women punishable offenses, and should take affirmative measures to amend the discriminatory laws including the Evidence Act, the Citizenship Act, the Hudood Ordinance, the Qisas and Diyat Ordinance and the Custodianship Act, following the principles of equality and non-discrimination; Government must ban jirga system and revoke customary practices including marriage to the Holy Quran, honour killing, burying women alive, domestic violence, forced or exchange marriages; New legislation must be created to combat all forms of violence against women, whereas more shelter homes and crises centers must be set up for the protection of women victims of violence; The gender biased material must be culminated from the curriculum, whereas stern action must be taken against elements involved in demolishing girls’ educational institutions, and inciting gender based hatred and violence in the society; The women workers must be protected against harassment and discrimination at work places, and safe women friendly atmosphere should be created at work places; The unrecognized women workers engaged in informal sectors including home-based workers, peasant workers and domestic workers should be recognized legally as part of the labour force, whereas ILO conventions protecting rights of home based workers and domestic workers must be ratified; The government must ensure the proper implementation on the UN convention CEDAW preventing all forms of discrimination against women, and should repeal domestic laws contradicting CEDAW; The women must be provided equal representation in all spheres of life for their empowerment.