Students urged to spread human rights awareness

LAHORE : Punjab University’s Department of Gender Studies in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Rights organised an awareness seminar to commemorate International Human Rights Day.

On this occasion, Chairperson, Department of the Gender Studies Prof Dr Ra’ana Malik, Director, Directorate of Human Rights Pakistan Lubna Mansoor, Irshad Waheed from Punjab Women Protection Authority, Father James from Peace Centre Lahore, Ahsan Nawaz from Ministry of Human Rights, faculty members and students were present.

In her address, Dr Raa’na shed light on the theme of International Human Rights Day this year “Freedom, Equality and Justice for All''. She stressed the need to give respect to women. She focused on the role of youth as agents of change in the society and asked students to play their positive role.

Lubna Mansoor talked about the importance of human rights and how violence against women is the biggest violation of any human’s right. Ahsan Nawaz enlightened the audience about the existing rights and how a common person can get benefit to know about their rights. He gave details on the recent legislations and initiatives by the Government of Pakistan to provide safety and justice to women and other vulnerable groups in the country like Zainab Alert App, Helpline 1099 etc.

Father James talked about inter-faith harmony and said that each individual had equal rights irrespective of his/her religion. Irhsad Waheed said that giving women’s rights was important for a successful society. He stressed the need to analyse why in the presence of so many pro-women legislations, the status of women in the country was still miserable. He stressed the young students to come forward and participate in the development of the country.