NCSW raises awareness on domestic violence

Islamabad – The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) is running a series of programmes, Meri Awaz Suno, on the issue of violence against women (VAW), specifically domestic violence, as part of its campaign related work on violence.

“Women’s rights activists, psychologists, legal and technical experts and government officials will be interviewed and oral testimonies from women survivors in the programmes will provide detailed information on this issue, prevalence, impact on women, children and the family, the laws put in place to combat domestic violence by the government as well as other efforts of the government and support mechanisms which work with women survivors,” it said.

The radio programmes are being held through support of the Gender Equity Programme of the Aurat Foundation and the USAID under the project ”Countering GBV through Research, Data Strengthening and Standardisation.”

“Violence against women and especially domestic violence is an area of serious concern for us and a priority area of work for the Commission so the objective here is to raise awareness on this among women,” said Chairperson NCSW Khawar Mumtaz.

Recent data from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2012-13 on the prevalence of physical and emotional violence experienced by ever married women ages 15-49 indicates that spousal violence is high in Pakistan.

Almost 40 percent married women had experienced spousal abuse at some point in their life, whether physical and/or emotional, and one-third reported having experienced some form of physical and/or emotional violence by their husbands over the previous 12 months.

The Nation