FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-043-2010
March 8, 2010
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
PAKISTAN: Religious minority groups have nothing to celebrate on International Day on Women
Although this is a day to celebrate the rights that women have acquired throughout the years we must bear in mind the efforts that still have to be made towards equality between men and women. In Pakistan however, women from religious minority groups have nothing to celebrate. Their rights and safety are continuously threatened by repressive laws, customs and religious hatred by the Muslim dominated society. Physical and sexual violence, honor killings, forced marriages and structural inequalities within the society are constant violations of women from minority group.
The Asian Human Rights Commission deplores the situation faced by the Hindu and Christian groups in general but the women from these communities are the worst victims of hate attitudes of the authorities, political groups, religious parties, the feudal structure and the Muslim majority. The laws recently made about violence against women, domestic violence and sexual harassment at the workplace are laudable but these have not changed the mindset of the Muslim society for the plight of minority groups.
The majority of the women from Hindu and Christian communities in the urban centers, small or large are employed as scavengers or sanitary workers and earn less than US$ 12.00 per month. They are deprived of basic human rights and denied of the protection of labour laws. In the rural areas they have to live in shanty towns out side the Muslim dominated areas and are treated as the scheduled cast. Particularly in Sindh province the Hindu women are the direct victims of feudal society and work for very meager amounts. They remain in debt to loans provided by the land owners for their labour in the fields.
The Hindu community in Sindh province, along the borders of India, is from different scheduled castes like, Bheel, Kohli and others, and their women are subjected to abduction, rape, arbitrary arrest, torture, displacement and killings. Most of the bonded labour in Sindh is from the Hindu community and has been for many centuries. The women are the worst sufferers of the bonded labour. In the districts of Badin, Mirpukhas, Sanghar, Umer Kot, Tharparker the Hindu women had been made as slaves because of religious hatred and debts claimed by their masters.
The women of the working class, the peasants and labourers, are mostly employed in informal sectors and cannot even earn one US dollar a day. In the kilns, road construction, fields and domestic industries, women have no rights and are bonded. There is no question of implementation of labour laws on the women from minority groups as they are taken for granted or treated as slaves.
The women of religious minority groups are of least concern to the government and even for civil society groups. In Pakistan there is no question of equal rights for the women belonging to religious minorities. There is a quota of two percent employment for religious minorities in government departments but hardly any women from minority groups are employed in the government services.
Pakistan has already ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) but is yet to implement it in all fields of the society. The Asian Human Rights Commission urge the government of Pakistan to implement the CEDAW in its true sprit. The women from different religions and sects should be treated equally according to the constitution of Pakistan. The government should also make changes in the curriculum according to CEDAW so that hatred from the Muslim society against the women from religious minorities is changed. The social conditions of the women of these groups should be enhanced so that they have equal status in the society without discrimination. Furthermore the women from religious minorities should have free access to education and health facilities.
