The Aurat Foundation, in collaboration with civil society organisations – ROZAN, WLP, AMAL, WORD, We Can and RSPN – organised the launch of One Billion Rising campaign in Pakistan on the International Human Rights Day on Monday.
The ceremony was organised at the auditorium of the Department of Earth Sciences, Quaid-e-Azam University. The participants included university students and members of civil society organisations, NGOs, academia and the media.
One Billion Rising is the collective voice of one billion women, men, children and transvestites across the globe for zero tolerance to violence against women.
According to international statistics, one out of three women in the world is rapped or beaten in her lifetime, which comes to more than 1 billion women. In Pakistan, approximately 70-90 percent of the women are subjected to domestic violence each year.
It is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls, started by Eve Ensler, a prominent activist who addresses issues of violence against women and girls. In 1998, her experience performing an episodic play inspired her to create V-Day, a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day raises funds and awareness through annual benefit productions of the play.
Speakers urged youth to speak up against any kind of violence around them. Nighat Rizvi from AMAL briefly introduced the participants with the history of One Billion Rising and V-Day. Dr Farzana Bari, chairwoman of the Department of Gender Studies, QAU, gave a detailed presentation on the ‘situational analysis of violence against women in Pakistan.
She said that creating awareness and personal commitment to refraining from inflicting violence on others, especially on women, was imperative but “we should not forget that gender-based violence is a structural issue and power imbalance between men and women is central to all forms of violence against women”.
Dr Ambreen Ahmed from ROZAN gave an overview of the One Billion Rising campaign’s activities. She told the audience that today peoples, both women and men in 177 countries of the world are raising their voice to end violence against women.
While elaborating the campaign’s activities, she informed the participants that the activities included a signature campaign, music programmes, theatre performances, and a poster competition.
She said that so far, 3,666 signatures had been put down to end violence against women.
Renown poet Kishwar Naheed recited two of her famous poems – ‘wo jo bacheon sey bhi dar gaey..., written for Malala Yousufzai, and ‘tum swami ram baney mery, tum majnoon qais baney merey, kabhi chhorr dia, kabhi …iss khel saraey sey niklo, tum merey jaisey insaan ho, merey dost bano’.
ROZAN Managing Director Babar Bashir highlighted the importance of involving men in ending violence against women and in the One Billion Rising campaign. He said that unfortunately, most of the perpetrators of violence against women are men, which highlights the importance of focusing men in this campaign.
WORD Executive Director Aqsa Khan spoke on the sexual harassment laws in Pakistan. She gave a full background of the sexual harassment at workplace law and the institutional procedures to deal with the cases of sexual harassment at workplaces. Aurat Foundation Legislative Watch Programme Manager Farkhanda Aurangzeb in her concluding remarks said that the event was just a beginning and the campaign had a long way to go and see much success. She urged the audience that the when back at home, office or class, each one should further spread the message of standing against violence against women.
Meanwhile, a poster competition was organised among the students of NUST, Fatima Jinah University, Bahria University and Arid Agriculture University. The event also included a musical performance by renowned singer Arieb Azhar, and emerging artist Yaruq and his band.
The ceremony was organised at the auditorium of the Department of Earth Sciences, Quaid-e-Azam University. The participants included university students and members of civil society organisations, NGOs, academia and the media.
One Billion Rising is the collective voice of one billion women, men, children and transvestites across the globe for zero tolerance to violence against women.
According to international statistics, one out of three women in the world is rapped or beaten in her lifetime, which comes to more than 1 billion women. In Pakistan, approximately 70-90 percent of the women are subjected to domestic violence each year.
It is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls, started by Eve Ensler, a prominent activist who addresses issues of violence against women and girls. In 1998, her experience performing an episodic play inspired her to create V-Day, a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day raises funds and awareness through annual benefit productions of the play.
Speakers urged youth to speak up against any kind of violence around them. Nighat Rizvi from AMAL briefly introduced the participants with the history of One Billion Rising and V-Day. Dr Farzana Bari, chairwoman of the Department of Gender Studies, QAU, gave a detailed presentation on the ‘situational analysis of violence against women in Pakistan.
She said that creating awareness and personal commitment to refraining from inflicting violence on others, especially on women, was imperative but “we should not forget that gender-based violence is a structural issue and power imbalance between men and women is central to all forms of violence against women”.
Dr Ambreen Ahmed from ROZAN gave an overview of the One Billion Rising campaign’s activities. She told the audience that today peoples, both women and men in 177 countries of the world are raising their voice to end violence against women.
While elaborating the campaign’s activities, she informed the participants that the activities included a signature campaign, music programmes, theatre performances, and a poster competition.
She said that so far, 3,666 signatures had been put down to end violence against women.
Renown poet Kishwar Naheed recited two of her famous poems – ‘wo jo bacheon sey bhi dar gaey..., written for Malala Yousufzai, and ‘tum swami ram baney mery, tum majnoon qais baney merey, kabhi chhorr dia, kabhi …iss khel saraey sey niklo, tum merey jaisey insaan ho, merey dost bano’.
ROZAN Managing Director Babar Bashir highlighted the importance of involving men in ending violence against women and in the One Billion Rising campaign. He said that unfortunately, most of the perpetrators of violence against women are men, which highlights the importance of focusing men in this campaign.
WORD Executive Director Aqsa Khan spoke on the sexual harassment laws in Pakistan. She gave a full background of the sexual harassment at workplace law and the institutional procedures to deal with the cases of sexual harassment at workplaces. Aurat Foundation Legislative Watch Programme Manager Farkhanda Aurangzeb in her concluding remarks said that the event was just a beginning and the campaign had a long way to go and see much success. She urged the audience that the when back at home, office or class, each one should further spread the message of standing against violence against women.
Meanwhile, a poster competition was organised among the students of NUST, Fatima Jinah University, Bahria University and Arid Agriculture University. The event also included a musical performance by renowned singer Arieb Azhar, and emerging artist Yaruq and his band.
