Summary

This research study illustrates that violence against women and girls (VAWG) has drastically increased in Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report analyses both quantitative and qualitative data, including 14 case studies, interviews of 6 key officials, and quantitative data from 25 districts in Pakistan from all 4 provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan.  

This report was published by the Aurat Foundation (AF) and South Asian Partnership-Pakistan (SAP-PK) as part of the “JAZBA - Democracy and Empowered Women or Jamhooriat aur Baikhtiar Aurat” project with the support of Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

The report is divided broadly into 5 chapters.

• Chapter 1 sets the context and describes the research and analysis methodologies.
• Chapter 2 looks into the statistical data of the VAW in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.
• Chapter 3 captures case studies and analysis.
• Chapter 4 contains almost unedited interviews of some important officials from women machineries.
• Chapter 5 summarizes the report, highlights the concerns and challenges besides chalking out a suggested way forward.

Key Findings 

• 2297 is the total number of reported cases of VAW from 25 districts of the 4 provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan during January to December 2020.
• Major Categories of VAW retrieved through the monitoring of the sampled newspapers are: Murder, Abduction/ Kidnapping, Rape/ Gang Rape, ‘Honour’ Killing, Suicide and Miscellaneous (Domestic, Dowry, Acid, Inheritance, Child and Forced Marriage).
• 57% cases were reported from Punjab. Sindh had the second highest instance of reported VAWG with 27% of the total cases, while 8% of reported cases were from KP; 6% from G-B and 2% of the reported cases were from Balochistan.

Recommendations

1. Recognize the need to address VAWG as a public health issue and support a public health approach to be adopted to tackling VAWG in local communities.
2. Support the work of local Violence Against Women Partnerships by encouraging strategic links and shared outcomes on public health with other local partnerships.
3. Adopt a gendered approach to public health and promote an understanding of VAWG.
4. Support and champion early intervention and prevention services which address the impact of VAWG on women and children’s health and wellbeing.
5. Champion the need to identify and change systems that perpetuate VAWG and hold perpetrators of VAWG to account for their behaviors.
6. Champion approaches that ensure men and boys are encouraged and supported to understand the gendered nature of VAWG, promote gender equality, and challenge the attitudes, behaviors and beliefs that underpin the continuing prevalence of VAWG across all its forms.

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