Zubair Qureshi
The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) is all set to launch ‘Roll out of National Women’s agenda 2024,’ a series of participatory dialogues to bring together representatives from across Pakistan to deliberate and determine the way forward on key issues related to Health, Climate Change, Law and Education.
Under Chairperson Nilofar Bakhtiar’s leadership, the commission is spearheading a critical analysis and collaborative solution seeking to address issues affecting women in Pakistan.
This comes in the year preceding the 30th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The main focus of the 69th Session to be held in March 2025 will review the implementation progress of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which Pakistan had committed to implement since 1996.
Nilofar Bakhtiar while briefing the media persons on Monday about the four-day (June 25-28, 2024) ‘national conferences’, as she described the upcoming events, said there would be dedicated sessions and group deliberations on Health, Climate Change, Law Reforms, and Education.
“Each session will explore specific thematic areas that have been prioritized with key stakeholders, and work with provincial government representatives, civil society, UN partners, and experts to collate specific immediate actions that the government should undertake to see improvement of our gender indicators,” she further said.
In partnership with UNFPA and Pathfinder, the Health, Climate and Laws sessions take into account intersectional issues that disproportionately impact women and girls. The final conference on Education, in collaboration with UNICEF and the British Council, will examine barriers to education and propose strategies to promote inclusive and equitable learning opportunities. Nilofar Bakhtiar was of the view that such conferences marked the rollout of NCSW’s National Agenda for Women and Girls: The Next Horizon aiming to set a comprehensive framework for advancing women’s rights nationwide. She also emphasized the importance of these conferences in developing actionable plans and urged the media to support the implementation of these initiatives, critical for the progress for women and girls in Pakistan.
