Ombudsperson secretariat initiates online hearing of cases

Islamabad

After introducing online complaint mechanism, the Federal Ombudsperson Secretariat (FOS) for Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace has initiated online hearing of cases.

To save people from the hassle of appearing before the Ombudsperson on every hearing, people living in far-flung areas can now request the Ombudsperson to conduct online hearing which is conducted through Skype. “Currently two cases are under process through online hearing — one from Karachi and the other from Los Angles,” said Shahrukh Abbasey, spokesperson for FOS.

Online hearing of cases adds value to the capacity of Ombudsperson to solve cases using modern techniques. Before that, online complaint mechanism was launched with the support of International Labour Organisation (ILO) under which the victims of harassment at workplace can lodge their complaints online at http://www.fos-pah.gov.pk/.

The official website and Complaint Management Information System (CMIS) provides the facility of four easy steps to lodge complaint against harassment at work place. The petitioners are able to track her or his complaint via SMS. The complainant will also be provided with a pin number through which he or she will be able to access details regarding any development in their case.

“The only hassle in the way of online hearing is the lack of equipment. As the hearing is conducted through laptops, it is not easy to make all FOS staff members present in the hearing be part of the proceedings,” he said.

Shahrukh informed that since 2011, total 339 applications against harassment were received by the Ombudsperson through different mediums. Among the total, 332 cases were disposed and seven cases are currently under proceedings. Both men and women registered cases of harassment in the Ombudsperson but majority was women. Only 83 men approached FOS as compared to 249 women.

“There is this general misperception that the ‘Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act’ is meant for women only. It is applicable on both men and women. Only reason of this misperception is the word ‘women’ used in the name of legislation. The FOS has suggested change in the name of the Act. The amendment is with the Senate Standing Committee for review,” said the spokesperson.

Other changes proposed in the Act suggest inclusion of students, brick kilns workers and domestic worker in the ambit of this law. “We have also demanded suo moto powers so that action can be taken on any case reported in media,” said the spokesperson.

Among total number of cases, majority were registered from Federal Capital (124) and Punjab (120) where as only 44 cases were registered from Sindh, 31 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 11 from Baluchistan and 2 from Fata. Around 6 applications were found to be fake.

“The FOS has requested the government to provide funds for initially opening four regional offices in provincial capitals so that more people can approach Ombudsperson in case of any harassment case,” said Shahrukh adding that number of registered cases is higher in capital and Punjab as Ombudsperson’s office is more accessible from these areas.