ISLAMABAD : President Dr Arif Alvi has reaffirmed the national and international commitments for the protection and promotion of women’s rights and said the Constitution of Pakistan ensured their fundamental rights.
The Constitution of Pakistan ensured fundamental rights and ample guarantees to women against all forms of discrimination, exploitation, marginalization, in addition to the right to equality, to grow and lead a healthy and prosperous life, the president said in a message on the occasion of International Women’s Day being observed on March 8.
He said Pakistan joined the international community to observe the Women’s Day every year.
The theme of this year is “gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, recognizing the contribution of women and girls around the world, who are making efforts to cope with the challenge of climate change and build a more sustainable future for all.
As a member state of the United Nations, he said, Pakistan fully endorsed the Charter of the United Nations, which strived to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination of gender. “The words of the Father of our Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, are the guiding principle that ‘No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men, ” he added.
The president called upon the civil society organizations, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), philanthropists, UN agencies, international partners, government and private departments, and particularly the women themselves to come forward and play their crucial role to support the government’s efforts to address gender disparities in Pakistan.
He further said it gave him great pleasure to mention that Pakistan made significant progress to empower women financially by providing them business loans on easy terms and conditions, and making legislation to ensure their right to inheritance as well as protect them against harassment.
He said empowerment of women had been the centrepiece of all policies, plans and programmes of the present government. They had highlighted those initiatives and achievements in relation to gender equality and equity at all international fora, including the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Beijing Platform for Action, Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).