Biannual Report

On

Situation of Violence against Women

in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

July --- December 2011

Prepared by:

Shirin Javed Regional Coordinator PDM on VAW Project

PDM on VAW AF Peshawar

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Introduction: The rights, needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls are sometimes overlooked. The subject of GBV or VAW is a sensitive one in most societies. In Pakistan, gender-based violence is particularly sensitive and rarely discussed .There is a great need to recognize that GBV is on rise in our country and people specially women need survivor-centered response services. Violence nullifies the enjoyment of life from women. All over the world and even in developed societies women and girls are facing different forms of violence. GBV is not restricted to any class or religion and it is present in the patriarchal society of Pakistan. In this society the power lies with men and they dictate the life style of women not only at house hold level but at community and policy level. Many form of violence is not even considered violence against women. Gender inequalities pave way for violence against women and insufficient laws to protect women also aggregate the situation. Improvement in laws and institutions is necessary for ending violence, but positive change is also needed in the ways that individuals perceive of and behave towards one another and themselves Government is now working to make life of women easy and free of violence . Women parliamentarians have taken bold initiatives to work for women issues .They faced challenges and resistance from various section but they tried to contribute in legislative process. Positive and progressive laws to provide protection to women came in during past seven years. These laws may have some shortcomings but these can be reformed with passage of time. This legislative success should be applauded but pressure should be increased on the implementation agencies to implement these laws in true spirit and help in providing relief to women.

Shabina Ayaz Resident Director AF Peshawar

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Executive Summary: The process of data-collection, its compilation and presentation has been undertaken by the Policy and Data Monitor on Violence against Women Project of the Aurat Foundation to highlight the issues of violence against women with the purpose of eventually eliminating these horrific crimes from the society. The data has been collected from different sources, one of the main sources was daily newspapers in Urdu and English published from provincial and national level. In addition to data-collection from print media, the incidents of violence were also collected from women crises centers. Since most of the cases are collected from media which by and large gives coverage to incidents which have been lodged with the police, and also since the other data is also gathered from shelter homes, the majority of these cases are reported cases of violence against women. These cases mostly relate to physical nature of violence or abuses against women. One purpose of this data collection exercise and its subsequent dissemination is to constantly remind the decision-makers and all others stakeholders about the gravity of the situation and to make them realize the urgency of an all-out concerted effort, at all levels, to combat and eliminate gender-based violence in Pakistan. Here I would like to acknowledge two internees Mr. Hafiz-ur-Rehman and Mr. Diljan Khan who help in scanning of news papers, cutting and pasting and finalizing the data and report This biannual report reflects that a total number of 305 incidents of violence against women occurred in 25 districts and 3 agencies of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and FATA during July December 2011. The cases have been put in different categories depending upon the nature of offence.

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Out of a total of 305 cases of violence against women in KPK, there were:

162 cases of murder 16 cases of honor killing 19 cases of abduction/kidnapping 23 cases of domestic violence 42 cases of suicide 4 cases of rape 39 cases of miscellaneous nature.

In these recorded cases, the percentage of the cases of murder is highest 53.11% followed by the 13.77 % of suicide;12.80 % of miscellaneous;7.55 % domestic violence; 6.22% of abduction /kidnapping ; 5.24 % honour killing and 1.31 % of rape/gang rape.

Number & Percentage of Cases of VAW in KP JulyDecember 2011 Category of Crime Abduction/kidnapping Murder Domestic Violence Suicide Honor Killing Rape/Gang Rape Miscellaneous Total Total Number of Cases 19 162 23 42 16 4 39 305 %age of the Total 6.22% 53.11% 7.55 % 13.77 % 5.24 % 1.31 % 12.80 % 100

The statistics below show the biannual distribution of VAW cases in KP. 389 = 305 The recorded percentage of the cases of violence against women in the first six months of 2011 was 56.06 %; and it was 43.94 % in the last six months of 2011.

Jan June = July --- December

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District-wise data on Violence against Women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa July December 2011

Abduction/ Kidnapping

Domestic Violence

Rape /Gang Rape 1 1 1 1

Honour Killing

Miscellaneous 1 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 2 2 5 4 4 1

S#

District Name

Abbottabad Bajour Agency (Fata) Bannu Battagram Buner Charsadda Chitral D.I.Khan Hangu Haripur Karak Khyber Agency (Fata) Kohat Kohistan Lakki Marwat Lower Dir Malakand p.a Mansehra South Waziristan Mardan Nowshera Peshawar Shangla Swabi Swat Tank Upper Dir Torghar Grand Total
PDM on VAW AF Peshawar

1 3 9 3 4

2 1 8 2 3 15 1 6 1 1 3 4 2 1 4 1 4 3 3 1 1 4 1 6 1 1 20 17 1 1 5 12 1 2 3 1 19 162 23 42 16 4 1 5 7 7 1 1 5 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 5 2 1 1 1 1

20 7 14 5 7 6 2 9 2 7 3 7 4 1 38 32 1 7 21 2 4 1

43 14 6

10 85

39 305
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Grand Total

Murder

Suicide

Prevalence of Major Categories of Violence against Women in KPK: Violence has many forms and their effect in any culture is detrimental. In some societies it exists in form of customary practices or it can be the outcome of the pressures on individuals and families. Wheneve9r we discuss GBV or talk about it our focus automatically turns towards violence against women because it is general belief that men inflict violence on women or the real perpetrators of violence are men who are responsible for VAW in any society of the world, whether in a developed or under developed or developing countries. According to one of the statistical report of UN, nearly 5000 women are killed around world in name of Honor every year . Different reports on VAW, even the reports prepared by Aurat Foundation reveal that husband is the main perpetrator. In Pakistan where the society is patriarchal women suffers a lot. Women make nearly half the population of the country but still bear the brunt of economic and social structure and feudalism. They face many forms of violence such as rape, murder, forced marriage ,Swara/Vani, stove burning , acid throwing ,domestic violence, sexual harassment and honour killing . Women face all these violence and still deprived of justice due to complex judicial system. To reduce violence against women social development goals such as public health, poverty reduction, social justice, education should be addressed and judicial system simplified and made easily accessible for women The biannual report for the period July to December 2011 gives grave picture os situation of VAW in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These are only the few reported cases where as majority of cases are not reported thus actual figure cannot be accessed, but we are still hopeful that laws made will be forcefully implemented to minimize the miseries of women. The data below reveals the situation of women in KP. The data reveals that murder of women was the major crime in KP with 162 cases of the total cases 43 cases from Peshawar; 20 from Mardan; 17 Nowshera; 15 from Charsadda ; 12 from Swat; 6 D.I.Khan ;8 from Bannu ; 5 from Swabi; 4 each from Haripur,Kohat,Lakki Marwat; 3 each from Buner, Hangu, Lower Dir, Malakand, and Upper Dir; 2 each from Battagram,Karak,and Tank; 1 eacch from Chitral,Khyber Agency, and Shangla .

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The 16 cases of honour killings reported in these six months. 5 from Peshawar,2 from Kohistan,1 each from Charsadda, D.I.Khan, Hangu, Kohat, Malalkand, Mansehra, Mardan , Nowshera and Tank Suicide by women is a key concern in KP. Reported cases are 42 in this report. 7 each from Mardan and Nowshera; 6 from Peshawar; 5 each from Chitral & Swat; 2 each from Bajaur Agency, D.I.Khan , Haripur, and 1 each from Battagram, Charsadda, Khyber Agency, Lakki Marwat, Malakand,& Swabi Abduction of women is another crime which was reported in newspapers. There had been 19 cases of abduction/kidnapping during July December 2011. 6 cases reported from Peshawar; 4 from Mardan; 1 each from Bannu Karak, Hangu, Lakki Marwat, Mansehra , South Waziristan, Nowshera, Swabi & Swat The data shows that only 4 of rape/gang rape was reported and registered during this reporting period. The reported rape crime was from 1 each from Peshawar , Nowshera , Mardan & Charsadda Domestic violence is another category of crime in which 23 were reported. The reported cases are 14 from Peshawar; 3 from Kohat; 1 each from Buner, D.I.K, Karak, Nowshera, Lakki Marwat & Swat Cases under the category of Miscellaneous are 39. This category comprise of vani/swara. Hurt &body injury, attempt murder, Attempt suicide, women trafficking attempt kidnapping. The reported cases are 10 from Peshawar, 5 from Mardan; 4 each from D.I.Khan & Nowshera; 2 each from Charsadda, Karak, Malakand, Mansehra & Swat; 1 each from Abbottabad, Bajaur Agency, Chitral,Haripur, Kohat, & Upper Dir Sources of Information: Out of the total of 305 cases of violence against women; 293 have been collected from the newspapers; 12 from Mera Ghar (Noor Education Trust) FIR Status: According to the reported data, the FIRs or complaints were registered in 236 cases. FIRs could not be registered in 18 cases, while in 51 cases the status of FIR could not be ascertained that whether it was registered or not. Marital Status of Victims/Survivors: Out of the total of 305 cases of violence against women during this reporting period, the marital status of total 333 victims/surviors was mentioned in the
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compiled data.In 58 cases there was no information about their marital status, whereas 195 were married victims /survivors, and 80 were not married. Age Groups of Victims/Survivors: Out of the total of 305 cases of violence against women, 47 victim/survivor were reported in the age category of 0-18 yr, 22 were in the age group of 19-36 and in age group 37 years and above 4 women were reported where as there was no information about the age group of 260 women . Rural Urban Break Down: Out of 305 cases of VAW the rural cases are 218, where as urban cases are 87. This data reveals that in rural area more cases of violence take place. Men/ Boys Victims: This data shows that 84 men /boys were also the victims in some cases. Motives: The motive behind these cases is usually family dispute, property dispute, petty dispute, and illicit relation, refusal to marriage proposal, choice marriage, forced marriage, old enmity, and unknown. Relationship: Offence of VAW is committed usually by relations close to us, but in some cases relationship with the offender is not mentioned .Mostly the offenders are husbands, father, son, brother, brother-in-law, father-in-law, nephew, cousin, uncle, mother-in-law, etc and in many cases relationship is not mentioned. Weapon used: Different types of weapons are used in the cases .they are pistols, axe, sharp knife, poisonous medicine, kerosene oil, strangle, suffocate beating, acid etc. and in some cases weapon used is not mentioned. This report shows the status of VAW in KP. Collection and publication of data is not sufficed. Only meaningful interpretation of data and its dissemination to larger extent will guarantee its access to the target audience which is the common women of Pakistan who herself is unaware of her rights under law and religion. The legislature and decision makers should bring about change in policies to bring change in ages old patriarchal society.

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