Mariamabad, Faisalabad: December 9, 2012. (PCP) On 9th December 2012, a seminar entitled “Role of democracy in protection & promotion of human rights” was organized to mark International day of human rights by Handicap & orphan children’s charity society (HOCCS) at 213 R.B. Marriamabad, Faisalabad. The seminar was joined by 80 male and female participants belong to different spheres of life. While Ms. Saima Sajid, Mr. Nakash, Mr. ZafarIqbal, Ms. Rukhsana and Mr. Comfort Naseem were among the speakers of the seminar. The situation of law and order & human rights during the current year was discussed on the behalf of the statistics and reports compiled by well-known organizations of Pakistan who are working for the protection and promotion of human rights. An increase was observed in the crime rate and violations of women rights. Speakers said that the women and children are the most marginalized sections of the society. According to the reports child labor, child and women trafficking, violence against women, honor killing, rape, gang rape, murder, acid throwing, forced conversion and forced marriages and target killing were the common crimes. They showed their concerns about the critical increase in the cases and FIRs lodged during the year 2012. Crimes against women in Pakistan increased by 7% this year as 57 districts reported 982 cases in May 2012 compared to 922 in the same month last year. However, over the last two years, a 31% increase was reported in such crimes with 746 FIRs lodged in May 2010, says a Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) report. The number of districts reporting rape decreased in 2012 as compared to the preceding year. It was still the most widespread crime. As many as 186 rape cases were reported in 31 districts this year as compared to 163 in 32 districts in 2011. Lahore had the highest of 40 cases in 2012 while Faisalabad (28) was the top reporting district in 2011. Speakers pointed out another alarming trend, and said around 15 per cent of victims were less than 18 years of age. Large numbers of incidents, the FIRs were not lodged. Among the total 8,539 incidents, FIRs were registered in 6,745 cases whereas no FIR was registered in 911 cases and there was no information available in 883 cases. In some forms of violence there has been notable increase, for instance, sexual assault increased by 48.65 per cent, acid throwing increased by 37.5 per cent, ‘honor’ killings by 26.57 per cent, and domestic violence increased by 25.51 per cent. The situation of minorities’ rights and labor rights is also not satisfactory, they said that due to load shading of Gas and Electricity thousands of factory workers are living very miserable life being jobless and they are protesting for the right to work but government is not interested to solve their social and economic circumstances. Minorities are facing discrimination and prejudice in the society. The 5% inadequate job quota for minorities and 2% for the persons with disablities is even not in their access due to corruption of the bureaucracy and monopoly of the provincial & federal ministers. They termed the democracy an ideal type of governance for the protection and promotion of the human rights. They said that democracy is a fertile field where the crop of human rights can easily grow. They said that we should adopt democratic norms and values to make our society just and peaceful. Government should improve the situation of law and order to control increase in crime rate. An irony mechanism should develop for the implementation of national and international laws in the country, they added