Staff Reporter
First meeting of sub-working group on gender based violence held at the office of Director General Social Welfare. Provincial Minister Social Welfare & Bait-ul-Mal, Syed Yawar Abbas Bukhari chaired the meeting. Shahid Niaz, DG SW&BM, Director Programs UNICEF Punjab Willboard, Chief united Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Liena Moussa, Director Programs Social Welfare Irfan Gondal, representatives from Integrated Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Program (IRMNCH), UN-WOMEN, WHO, other government departments and members from NGOs were also present during the meeting.
The purpose of constitution of this group is to develop coordination among all stakeholders to curb gender based violence in the wake of Covid-19. Main agenda of meeting was to revisit terms of references (TORs) of the group and addition of new members for further betterment on this issue.
Provincial Minister while welcoming the participants pointed out that gender based violence was a big issue of third world particularly in Pakistan this problem rose due to multiple factors. “In the wake of Covid-19 all stakeholders should enhance their vigilance for better results”, said the Minister. He said that to prevent women, children and transgender from violence more initiatives were required. “No individual or group can be permitted to inflict violence on weak genders.
The sub-working group will prepare recommendations and Punjab government would take more steps to eliminate gender based violence”, concluded the Minister. Representatives from Punjab Women Protection Authority briefed the meeting about various initiatives launched by her institution.
