KARACHI : The participants of the panel discussion organized by Sindh Human Rights Department have urged that there is a need to create a one-window system at the government level across the country to provide justice to the victims of human rights violations.
Human Rights Department, Government of Sindh held a panel discussion under the theme of ‘Role of Human Rights in Social Inclusion and Empowerment of Women’ in collaboration with Sindh Madrasatul Islam University, in which well-known actor and social personality Ayub Khosa, transgenders’ rights activist Kami Sid, Marvi Awan, Iqbal Detho and others participated. The panel discussion was moderated by Jameel Hussain Junejo, Executive Coordinator of the Department of Human Rights, TIC.
Ayub Khosa said that there are often problems in providing justice in cases of human rights violations due to lack of coordination among government departments and institutions. He said that the world has become digitized, but we still cannot access even basic information, adding that if a citizen wants to know the number of schools in a union council and the number of children studying there, even today this information will not be available online. “Thanks to modern technology, government services can now be provided to Pakistani citizens through a one-window operation like in other countries of the world,” he said.
Human rights activist Iqbal Detho said that the government of Sindh is far ahead of other provinces in terms of legislation on human rights, adding that Sindh is the only province in the country, where the minimum age for marriage is 18 years. He claimed that Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah introduced the Child Marriage Bill in 1928 and suggested that the minimum age of marriage should be fixed at 21 years. He further said that due to the non-provision of government services under the one-window system, the victim of injustice has to suffer. “The affected person has to approach more than one department and institution separately to get justice,” he pointed out.
Kami Sid said that there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of spreading awareness in the society regarding human rights, adding that in our society, most of the affected people are not aware of their rights. Marvi Awan urged that women should get right to movement and right to decision. Other participants of the panel discussion appreciated the steps taken by the Sindh Human Rights Department to spread awareness about human rights among the society, especially among the youth, and said that the observance of rights begins with complete awareness about them. Students also asked questions to the panelists during the program.
