The discussion below begins with two sections to establish the context for NCSW’s role in mitigating the risks and costs of protest actions to women on the ground, and broadening spaces for state actors to ally with their demands to produce tangible outcomes for women’s rights. [...] WAF and leading advocacy organizations, including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, called for repeal of the zina laws on the grounds they were 2 discriminatory, and violated both fundamental rights and the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which Pakistan ratified in 1996. [...] However, the strength of NCSWs voice in policy circles is also contingent upon the political commitment of the government to women’s issues, the individual leadership at the Commission and composition of its members. [...] Finally, the moment for change to the zina laws came when Musharraf wanted to amend the laws in time for his official visit to the US in the fall of 2006 (Khan 2018). [...] The bill explained the need for reform by separating the offence of rape and adultery, which had been lumped together in the 1979 Hudood laws, leading to abuse of the provisions.
- Pages
- 25
- Published in
- Pakistan
