KARACHI: Activists and supporters of several civil society organisations, including the Aurat Foundation, staged a rally outside the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The UN General Assembly through a resolution adopted on Dec 17, 1999 designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).

Led by the Aurat Foundation and several other organisations, human rights and women rights activists took out a rally from the press club and marched along Maulana Deen Mohammad Wafai Road.

They raised slogans against all kinds of violence against women and appreciated efforts by certain parliamentarians towards the recent adoption of two bills on domestic violence and sexual harassment by the National Assembly.

Through various resolutions passed at the rally, the participants demanded repeal of the Hudood Ordinance and anti-women provisions in the Citizenship Act. They also called for amendments to the law of evidence and the “contradictory provisions” in the law relating to the legal age of children/adulthood in accordance with the 1997 report submitted by the Commission of Inquiry on Women.
Source: Dawn
Date:11/26/2009