Efforts to protect women against violence highlighted

LAHORE: Chief Minister’s Strategic Reforms Unit (SRU) Director General Salman Sufi highlighted the SRU’s efforts to provide justice to women victims and protect them from all forms of Violence Against Women (VAW) crimes.

He was invited to Cambridge University’s Center of Development Studies to a dialogue on the SRU’s innovative approach to combating gender based violence in Punjab.

The dialogue titled “Pioneering an innovative approach for combating domestic violence: learning from Pakistan” held on Friday. Salman Sufi spoke about targeting economic, social and cultural factors preventing women from seeking justice for crimes such as domestic violence, rape, and acid attacks.

He highlighted the SRU’s efforts to investigate and research the issue, the findings of which formed the basis for the idea of Violence Against Women Centres (VAWCs) in Punjab, which is the implementation wing of the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016, which is the most comprehensive legislation passed in the history of Pakistan aiming to provide justice to women victims by establishing and institutionalising mechanisms that protect from all forms of Violence Against Women (VAW) crimes.

These centres are round-the-clock operational, all women-run facilities which streamline investigation-prosecution case flow process by bringing all disconnected justice delivery services under one roof, including police, justice, medical examination and treatment, psychological evaluation and counselling as well as post-trauma rehabilitation.

The flagship centre was established in Multan and is fully operational. It has resolved more than 1,500 cases pertaining to various forms of abuse against women. The Punjab Women Protection Authority Act 2017 passed in May 2017, mandates an autonomous Authority to monitor and expand these units.