RAWALPINDI – Women Research and Resource Centre and Gender Studies Department of Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) in collaboration with ROZAN organised a session on One Billion Rising Campaign here on Friday.
Managing Director ROZAN Baber Bashir and Farkhanda Aurangzeb, Manager Legislative Watch Programme, Aurat Foundation, were the guest speakers on the occasion. Dr Rukhsana Hassan, Chairperson Gender Studies Department, welcomed the guests and audience and introduced the role of WRRC in projecting women and gender issues.
Speaking on the occasion Baber Bashir said that approximately 70 to 90 per cent women were subjected to domestic violence in the country. According to international statistics, 1 out of 3 women in the world would be raped or beaten in her lifetime, that was, 1 billion women. Therefore, under the unified banner of One Billion Rising Campaign, several human rights organisations have united together to combat violence against women by exhibiting zero tolerance.
He gave an overview of the One Billion Rising campaign’s activities and elaborated the participants about the activities included a signature campaign, music programmes, theatre performances, and a poster competition. He told the audience that, women and men in 177 countries were raising their voice to end violence against women (VAW) and 4700 signatures have been collected to end VAW.
Babar Bashir also highlighted the importance of involving men in ending violence against women. He said that unfortunately, most of the perpetrators of violence against women are men, which highlights the importance of focusing men in this campaign.
Aurat Foundation Legislative Watch Program Manager Ms Farkhanda Aurangzeb in her concluding remarks said that the event was just a beginning and the campaign had a long way to go and see much success. She urged the audience to spread the message of standing against violence against women.
Dr Humaira Ahmed, Incharge WRRC, thanked the distinguish guests for gracing the occasion and hoped that in the future such programs will be arranged to share the student perspective on such issues. University souvenirs were presented to the guests as a token of appreciation.