JAMSHORO: A girl who managed to escape from her “premartial isolation room” four days before her planned marriage with an aged perso near Sehwan on Friday was caught and beaten badly. Sakina, 20 resident of Laki Shah Saddar near Sehwan was to be married with 45- year old Mor Khan against her will.Following hectic efforts of five hours, relatives of the girl managed to find her in a forest.According to witnesses, her relatives thrashed her, leaving her badly injured. She was admitted to LUMHS Hospital, Jamshoro.
Source: The News
Date:12/16/2006
UK to provide £6 million to Pakistan for gender support By Muhammad Saleh Zaafir
ISLAMABAD: The United Kingdom will provide six million pounds for UNDP’s gender support programme in Pakistan. This fund would be made available through the UK’s Department for International Development. An agreement to this effect was signed by UNDP Country Director Haoliang Xu and Head of DFID Pakistan Dr. Yusaf Samiullah here Friday.The funds will support the government of Pakistan in achieving gender related goals and commitments, with the aim of reducing poverty by enabling women, especially the poor, to participate more equally in economic, public and domestic spheres.
Four million pounds will be utilised to support the ongoing and new Gender Support Programme projects to increase women’s socio-economic status, make government institutions and policies more gender-fair and increase women’s participation and leadership in politics. The remaining two million pounds will be spent on setting up a Gender, Justice and Protection Fund with the specific aim of supporting joint government and civil society efforts to tackle violence against women. Speaking on the occasion, UNDP Country Director Haoliang Xu said violence against women is a high social issue. He said women are deprived of participation in the development process.
He said the fund will improve social and economic condition of women and ensure their participation in decision-making process. DFID Head Dr. Yusaf Samiullah said the status of women in Pakistan is a serious challenge to poverty reduction and the fund is trying to tackle the issue of violence against women. He said the UK and Pakistan have recently signed a ten-year Development Partnership Arrangement, reaffirming their joint commitment to improve the lives of poor people in Pakistan. He said the DFID’s assistance would double from £236 million over the current three years period to £480 million.
Source: The News
Date:12/16/2006
UK’s DFID to give £6 million for women empowerment
ISLAMABAD:The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) has committed six million pounds to fund the Gender Support Programme (GSP) of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). UNDP country director Haoliang Xu and head of DFID Pakistan Dr Yusaf Samiullah signed the agreement, here Friday. Praising the huge donation of about Rs 11 billion, Xu said the GSP would focus on institutional strengthening, political participation and socio-economic reforms, which UNDP feels are very important to achieve women empowerment. Talking to the Business Recorder, Dr Yusuf said that the funding is part of the three-year 236 million pounds assistance extended to various organisations working to improve the life of poor people in Pakistan from 2005-08, and fighting against polio, Aids, illiteracy etc. Of the six million pounds, he said, two million pounds would be exclusively for eradicating violence against women and rest for activities pertaining to end gender inequality.
Explaining the distribution of four million pounds, he said that this would be spent on ongoing and new projects to increase women’s socio-economic status, and increase women’s participation in politics. Further elaborating the use of two million-pounds, he said, this would be used for setting up a gender-related Justice and Protection Fund, specifically supporting joint government and civil society efforts to tackle cases of violence against women. There is a need of raising awareness among men, women and officials who have the responsibility to respond to incidents of violence, strengthening community support and referral systems for women who have suffered violence, and providing financial support to them. “We are delighted to support this essential work being carried out by UNDP. The status of women in Pakistan is a serious challenge to poverty reduction and we are particularly pleased to throw our weight behind efforts to tackle the tragic issue of violence against women, Dr Yusuf said.”
In his welcome address Haoliang Xu said, “Violence against women has a high social and economic cost for society. It constitutes a major loss of productive labour in the economy, limits their participation in the development process and reduces their capacity to access resources and services. Therefore, it is pertinent that all means are taken to remove this menace from the society today.” Regarding transparent use of funds, he said UNDP would be working closely with the government and monitor all activities from time to time. Haoliang said Norway donated $3 million, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) $1.5 million and Swiss Agency for Development and Corporation (SDC) $1.5 million for the gender cause. The good thing about these donations is that they are not earmarked, except for CIDA, which has exclusively donated for gender mainstreaming, he said.
Source: B/Recorder
Date:12/16/2006