KARACHI: Sindh Parliamentary Task Force on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and rights activists have emphasized the need for the implementation of pro-women and gender-sensitive legislation in the province. They ask for increased oversight of parliamentarians in implementation.
They were speaking at an orientation session with members of the Sindh Parliamentary Task Force on SDGs and civil society activists here on Thursday? Barrister Pir Mujeeb Ul Haq (MPA), Convenor of the Provincial Parliamentary Task Force on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) chaired the orientation session.
In his opening remarks, he said that the session is very important as millions of people have been affected by recent floods in Sindh. We will see the recent laws and their implementation process in the context of SDGs. He shared that he heads the parliamentary affairs committee and he wishes for more and more parliamentary members to participate in the meetings. However, he remarked that given the political situation, parliamentarians are engaged in different meetings.
Sajjad Giliani from the SDGs Support Unit Sindh of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) gave a brief presentation on the department’s performance in Sindh. Last year the Unit held 17 advocacy sessions. He informed the meeting that they are closely working with the Federal Bureau of Statistics.
He shared that the unit has tried to reach out to civil society and encouraged them to adopt SDGs in their goals. Recently a conference was held in Bangkok in which a local government official from Sindh presented Sindh’s case. Sindh Commission on the Status of Women is also closely working with us on SDG5. We are also working on transferring knowledge and institutionalization and utility with departments and digitalization of a dashboard.
Ms Sarah Zaman a gender specialist talked about the pro-women legislation in Sindh and identifying gaps for parliamentary intervention. She gave references to many laws, Sindh Home Based Workers Law, Hindu Child Marriage Act, Child Marriage, and Transgender bill.
She said that lawmaking should be fair and if it is fair there should be no pros and cons. She said that poverty is caused by widespread gender-based violence. She also said that Home-based workers’ law says that mobile healthcare facility is to be provided.
There are also many pro-labour laws like the occupational safety and health (OSH) law, SESSI law, and Workers Welfare Fund Board. She said that in floods women and children are badly affected and they are still facing problems as a majority of them are still not living in camps.
Sarah Zaman said that SDG-5 gender equality and SDG-17l are the most important. She pointed out that post-legislation scrutiny is the most important element and quoted Dr Kaiser Bengali that we need the 18th amendment plus at the micro level.
Rijjomal from the provincial labour department shared that we have prepared the rules of business for Sindh Home Based Workers 2018. The UN Women has supported us in this regard. We have received 2400 registration forms, out of which we have verified 200 workers.
Iqbal Detho, an expert in International Law and a Member of the National Commission on Child Rights discussed gender-responsive legal and policy reforms in Sindh in detail and gave a brief presentation, he shared that 36 conventions ratified by ILO.
Abdul Hameed Shaikh, Director Social Welfare Department: In Pakistan 25 million children are on the streets. Are we able to meet the target in 2030, for me this is an alarming situation?
The 2022 floods were flash floods. Our infrastructure has collapsed so we have to work on climate change. About 90% of people don’t know about this so there is a need to give mass awareness.
Qasim Soomro, Parliamentary Secretary shared that the government has made laws but implementation is a challenge. This is a problem that regular meetings are held. Departments conduct meetings related to SDGs on a regular basis but don’t invite legislators.
He underlined the need to hold a workshop on SDGs. There are thousands of issues related to the river Indus as water quality has become poorer. Poisonous arsenic level in Indus water is increasing. There are other health-related issues, migration-related issues and that need to be addressed.
Soomro feared that growth in population can be a disaster. Local government system manifestation is needed. He suggested to be more practical should have baseline research on all vital issues. MPA Ghazala Sial said that floods have affected Sindh and Balochistan badly. The situation in the camps was very bad. If the population keeps on rising at the same pace it is not controlled.
It would be hard to cope according to the SDGs. The Planning and Development department needs to think about this alarming situation. Zulfiqar Shah moderated the session and shared that the focus of the session was pro-women and gender-sensitive legislation. There are some laws that needed to be amended and some laws to be introduced to promote gender equality. The meeting was also attended by Ali Khurshidi, Mangla Sharma, MPA and others.