Rs300 million for ministry of human rights

Islamabad : In the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), the government has allocated Rs300 million for on-going and new schemes of the Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR).

The amount has been allocated for six on-going and new schemes of Human Rights Division (HRD) for the fiscal year 2018-19. The allocation included Rs198.5 million for three new schemes including Rs91 million for Acquisition of Construction of Building for National Institute of Human Rights Islamabad and Rs60 million for construction of Working Women Hostel, G-6/2, G-7/3, Islamabad. An amount of Rs47.36 million was reserved for Institute Strengthening of Regional Directorates of Human Rights, Lahore, Karachi and Quetta.

Total Rs101.5 million have been allocated for three on-going schemes with Rs43 million for Institutional Strengthening of Ministry of Human Rights, followed by Rs35.5 million for Establishment of National Institute of Human Rights, Islamabad and Rs23 million for Implementation of Action Plan for Human Rights in Pakistan.

Chapter 10 of the budget document deals with ‘Gender and Women Development’ which reviews the government’s performance for year 2017-18 and talks about government’s commitment with regards to national and international commitments.

In the section that deals with programmes for 2018-19, the document says that the federal and provincial governments, including civil society organisations have envisaged plans for promoting gender equality and women empowerment through actions comprised of awareness raising campaigns and allocation of resources under annual development programmes.

It says that the women departments have envisaged initiatives for establishment of working women hostels, day care centres for children of working mothers, women crisis centres, guidelines and awareness on work place harassment and shelter homes in the provinces.

The initiatives mentioned in the chapter for 2018-19 include continued services under “establishment of helpline for legal advice,” construction of working women hostel G6/2 and G7/3 in Islamabad, services of National Commission on the Status of Women and continued support to the poverty stricken people under Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

It says that the plans for next year envisages achieving the unmet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through short and long term plans which also include Goal 5 that deals with gender equality.