Combatting Discrimination against Women Women in Pakistan experience significant discrimination, with “honour killings” and other forms of gender-based violence very widespread in a society in which negative gender stereotypes persist and are being strengthened by the rise of religious extremism in recent years. The Equal Rights Trust is supporting equal rights groups in efforts to improve protection of women from discrimination.
Our objectives include:
- Producing a comprehensive report on discrimination and equality in Pakistan, to establish an evidence base on the need for legal and policy reforms;
- Strengthening legal services for women victims of discrimination and developing strategic cases which set precedents in respect of gender discrimination;
- Increasing the capacity of human rights defenders and lawyers to combat gender discrimination by training them on international and national standards in equality law.
Promoting UN Human Rights and International Labour Organization Conventions
Through a separate project in Pakistan, we are working to reform discriminatory laws, policies and practice to bring them in line with UN human rights and International Labour Organization conventions, including those which focus on eliminating racial discrimination, discrimination against women and those promoting child and labour rights.
To do this we are supporting civil society and trade unions by:
- Providing training on conventions, best ways to monitor their implementation and effective strategies for engaging government;
- Providing assistance to support strong partnerships between civil society and trade unions, so that together effective results can be ensured; and
- Overseeing financial schemes so that monitoring and engagement with the government can be widely carried out.
