Sach-activities.asp

SACH has organized Pro-Bono Lawyers Workshop (26th July 2011)

SACH- struggle for change organized a Pro-bono lawyer’s workshop at Best Western Islamabad. SACH organized this activity to contribute to the series of activities held in order to commemorate the UN world refugee day. The theme for the year 2011 is “One refugee without hope is too many”.

The overall objective of the workshop was to create a pool of lawyers working as human rights defenders in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Attock districts on behalf of the organization. These lawyers will provide free legal aid on humanitarian grounds in the courts of law to the needy persons specially the refugee community living in these districts.

Two sessions were scheduled in the workshop. First session was delivered on 1951 UN Refugee Convention and The Legal Status of Afghan Refugees in Pakistan by Mr.Ehsan Ullah Khan (Assistant Field Officer UNHCR) while the other session was on Gender Based Violence which was delivered by Mr.Salman Asif (Gender Specialist/Advisor, Office of The Resident Coordinator UN).

Ms. Maya Ameratunga (Assistant Representative Protection UNHCR) and Ms. Farkhanda Aurangzeb (DG Ministry of Human Rights) honored the occasion as chief guests.

Certificate distribution ceremony was held after the sessions and certificates were distributed among the participants by the representatives of Human Rights Ministry and UNHCR.

At the end of the program, Ms. Khalida Salimi (Executive Director SACH) gave thanks note by appreciating participants for attending the workshop and joining hands for this Noble cause. She also thanked the honorable guests for honoring the gathering.

26 June 2011, UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

SACH commemorates different International Days such as International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on 26 of June every year. SACH is playing its role to eliminate torture from the society, organizes workshops with stack holders who are directly involve with torture by different means. SACH organizes workshops with police, trainings conducted to educate police officers and junior staff about different human rights concepts. Workshops are arranged for prison staff to educate them about different human rights concepts.

Seminars are conducted for lawyers and judiciary to educate them about international treaties and prevailing situation in Pakistan. On the national level. National level seminars are conducted for legislators that finally lead to the ratification of UN conventions in Pakistan. The silent features of the activities are to build capacity of law enforcing agencies, to raise awareness about different Human Rights concepts, and international treaties regarding torture. The systematic series of trainings, workshops and seminars is a major contribution of SACH to eliminate torture from the society.

A one day consultation to facilitate the Pakistan Government officials on first reporting of UN CAT to United Nations (UN) after the ratification of UN Convention against Torture (UN CAT) was organized by SACH-Struggle for Change on June 23, 2011 at Marriott Hotel Islamabad in connection with the UN International Day in support of Victims of Torture. The overall objectives of this consultation were to facilitate the Pakistan Government officials on first reporting of UN CAT to United Nations (UN), to highlight the importance of the UN Convention against Torture and to facilitate the government commitments and measures for the implementation of UN CAT.

Ms. Khalida Saleemi (Executive Director SACH) during her welcome address gave a brief introduction of the organization and shared with the participants that the organization is providing rehabilitation services to the victims of torture in Pakistan for the last several years and is devoted to establish a torture free society in Pakistan. She shared with the Participants that the organization had played a significant role in the ratification of Convention against Torture (CAT) and other human rights conventions including Convention on Rights of Child (CRC) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Ms. Khalida Saleemi also shared that SACH always observes the International Day in support of Victims of Torture. We are convinced that the successful eradication of torture requires positive efforts of stakeholders at all levels and from all areas of society. The Convention against Torture is one of the most important Human Rights instrument to minimize and eradicate torture practices in Pakistan.

The Chief Guest Federal Law Minister Mulaa Bukhsh Chandio said that our government is working to eradicate torture and it clearly shows by our action of ratification of CAT on 3rd June, 2010. He also shared his experience of being torture survivor and emphasizes that prison and police are the places the worst forms of torture exist. In the current scenario of Pakistan, it is need of the time to work together with the civil society to make a comprehensive strategy to meet the challenge to eliminate the torture from our society. He appreciated the efforts of SACH for ratification of CAT and ICCPR and for organizing consultation to facilitate government functionaries for reporting on UN CAT.

Mr. Ahmar Bilal Sufi Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan talked about the technical legalities and post ratification responsibilities of government. He said that after ratifying the convention, state is bound to submit an annual report to UN and it is the responsibility of federal government to work according to the articles of CAT, eradicate the torture from the society and bring some good change. Ms. Sitara Ayaz Social and Welfare Minister KPK, Mr. Lars Gunnar EU Ambassador, Mr. Khalid Naeem (Rt. Director of Ministry of Social Welfare), DR. Zia Ahmed (Expert Trainer), Dr. Arshad and Dr. Nasreen (Medico Lego Experts) also honored the consultation by sharing their views.

ROLE OF SACH IN CELEBRATIONS OF WORLD REFUGEE DAY, 2011

Meetings
Total 08 planning meetings were held and attended by SACH in reference to world refugee day. There were representation from UNHCR, Sharp and SACH in all those meetings, the objectives of holding these meetings were to take decisions necessary for arrangement and organization of various activities in connection to world refugee days, SACH also hosted two meeting at its office.

Rehearsals
A full day rehearsal was held at SACH office on Monday 13th June where the participants of both SACH and SHARP performed in the presence of focal persons for World Refugee Day from SACH and UNHCR. In addition, our staff and coordinator held a full dress rehearsal on Saturday 18th June in National Library showing their dedication towards the Final Day and their continual efforts to make this event as successful as possible.

Quiz Competition
SACH also organized a quiz competition among students from refugee and host communities on 15th of June 2011. Participants from the schools on the panel of SACH participated in the quiz competition namely Malalay high school and Islamabad science school. SACH coordinated with another school on its panel “Wahid International School” which provided with the venue for organizing this quiz competition and on request from SACH they also provided with all necessary support. The Quiz Competition proved to be a success with our coordinators’ dedication and good management from staff. The winners and both runners up were presented with shields and certificates on World refugee day.

Performances on final World Refugee Day (20th June 2011)
our activities were applauded the most by the crowd. Firstly, our team of Theatre for Development performed a mime based on one of the slogans for the world refugee day,’ 1 refugee without shelter is too many.’ The performance was much appreciated by the spectators providing a glance at the hardships of being a refugee. Moreover, refugee children from one of our panelist schools, Roshaan High School performed an Afghan National Song and their National Dance Atan which again fortunately turned out to be one of the best performances of the day. Furthermore, Zainab , a 10 year old Iraqi refugee girl and Maria, a 12 year old Iranian girl child performed a cultural dance on their National Songs showing their Patriotism.

Poster exhibition on the theme of "Equal access to education, training and science and technology" pathway to decent work for women

SACH-struggle for change under its programme SACH-SCAC (social counseling and assistance center) at the LOK VIRSA in which students from schools, colleges and universities participated. Posters made by refugees were also placed in exhibition for competition.

The exhibition depicted the different issues faced by women in Pakistan specially the refugee women through creative art work. Ms. Khalida Salimi executive director SACH welcomed all the participants of the exhibition and thanked the chief guests for inaugurating the exhibition. She appreciated the work of students from different institutions and shared sixteen years long struggle of her organization for women’s rights in Pakistan.

People from all walks of life including govt. departments, civil society, police, media, teachers, lawyers and students were present at the inauguration ceremony and appreciated the work of SACH for women’s rights in Pakistan.

TV and Radio Announcement:

As an awareness raising tool, media plays an important role. To talk about any upcoming issue (TV and radio announcements contribute) towards awareness among masses and towards advocacy on the issues public. For advocacy and awareness raising purposes, SACH launched a media campaign to initiate a debate/dialogue on the issue of torture. The main objectives of this media campaign were to create public awareness and a public debate on the issue of torture, on the rehabilitation of torture victims and measures to be taken after the ratification of the UN Convention Against Torture by the Government of Pakistan.

Under this project, two major activities of the campaign were conducted. A talk show on the issue of “Torture and Rehabilitation of primary and secondary Torture Victims” was telecasted on the local channel “A-TV” on 30th June 2010. The talk show was about the issues of “torture and its impact and consequences” were discussed. A senior medical officer, a psychologist and physiotherapist working on this issue were interviewed. A civil judge who participated shared his view for a legal perspective after the signature of UNCAT. Two programmes were broadcasted on FM 100 radio Station with 06 different experts on 29 and 30 June 2010. During these programmes, the subject specialists by SACH rehabilitation programme for victims of torture explained the term of torture, its practices in Pakistan and how the victims can be appropriately handled. The transmissions of both television and radio reached out to a large audience.

The programmes were recorded previously with the support of IRCT, they were aired. It is to be noted that the channels of radio and TV were selected on the account of their national coverage and popularity among masses. Positive feedback was shared by the radio and TV administration. A few cases were referred by the radio station after the programme was aired.

Please click the below link to listen the radio program

Judiciary Training

Judicial Workshop
SACH has conducted two judicial workshops on UK-Pakistan protocol on children matters. SACH Struggle for change conducted the workshops with the support of British High Commission. UK-Pakistan protocol on children matters is a document which was signed by the judiciary of Pakistan and United Kingdom in January 2003 at a conference in London. The workshops were conducted hauling four main Objectives.

To raise awareness among the Family Court’s Judges and to give better understanding about the child abduction cases, especially in mixed marriage or when parents are from different countries.
To raise awareness among Judiciary regarding spirit of the protocol through capacity building to enhance the cooperation to consular section from family judges dealing with child abduction among dual nationals and to increase the level of interest of family judges to deal with child abduction cases following UK-Pakistan Protocol rules.
To sensitize the Family Court’s Judges to handle the cases of dual nationality children or parents in the most practical and effective manners.
The final Objective was to find out ways keeping in mind the best interest of the child in the light of habitual residency while deciding these cases by both the judiciaries.

Punjab Judicial Workshop:
The Two Day Judiciary Workshop was conducted in Lahore. The workshop was inaugurated by the Honorable Chief Justice of Punjab High Court. In the other distinguished guests Honorable Director General Federal Judicial Academy Mr. Pervaiz Ali Chawla, Honorable Director General Punjab Judicial academy Honorable Mr. Tanveer Khan, Ex-Chief Justice AJK High courts Honorable Mr. Manzoor Gillani, Ms. Khalida Salimi OBE Executive Director SACH and Ms. Sheena Lavery Head Consular section British High Commission have joined.
At Inaugural Honorable Mr. Ijaz Chaudhry Chief Justice Punjab High Courts shared his views about the spirit of UK-Pakistan protocol on children matters and the initiative taken by the implementing partners in this regard. He addressed the judges highlighting the philosophy of the protocol and its relevance to the existing laws. After the formal opening of the workshop, a brief orientation about protocol was given to the Honorable judges as most of the participants were unaware of the protocol. A speaker (Barrister Ms. Amber Darr) gave presentation on Challenges in Implementing the UK /Pakistan protocol on Children Matters and how these can be addressed were shared by the Honorable Mr. Manzoor Gillani in his speech. The session was presided by the Honorable Mr. Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani. At the end of this session the presiding judge gave some briefings about UK-Pakistan Protocol & the legal system in Pakistan (including guidelines and procedures for Judges on how to implement protocol and how awareness of the Protocol will be promoted in Pakistan). He further shared that broadly there have been three approaches/trends in relocation jurisdictions. These are:

raising presumption in favor of custodial parent;
favor ongoing contact between the child and non-custodial parent; and
Focusing on ‘best interests’ factors and other relevant considerations.

He added that Pakistan is a non-Hague country but such cases which involve transnational child abduction or relocation concerned are decided keeping in view the best interests of the child.
Ms Khalida Salimi OBE- Executive Director SACH highlighted the role of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and importance of mediation to deal with the cases of International Child Abduction. She shared the importance of Mediation in cross border child abduction cases. She shared some of the cases of cross border child abduction and the after effects of the judicial decisions on the child and his/her families.
Mr. Ahmer Bilal Sufi gave presentation on International Law on Child Custody in relation to local laws. He presented the critical analysis between the gaps and the provisions of International Law on Child Custody in relation to local laws.
Honorable Mr. Sohail Nasir District & Sessions Judge/Judge Special Court (NF) – Rawalpindi, gave a brief presentation on Introduction to local laws related to children matters. He described briefly all existing laws related to the minors in Pakistan. He listed out the children laws in Pakistan. His presentation reflected the compliance of protocol which already exists in local laws.
Honorable Ms. Jazeela Aslam-Additional District & Session Judge – Kasur presented the case studies of child abduction dealt in local courts and experiential sharing’s while dealing with cases of International child abduction.
At the end concluding remarks were given by Chief Guest Honorable Mr. Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jillani. He distributed the certificates among the participants. Souvenirs were presented to Chief Guest Honorable Mr. Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jillani and Honorable Mr. Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan by the implementers.
Outcome of the workshop
The aim of the workshop was to bridge the gap in proper implementation of UK-Pakistan protocol in Pakistan. The outcome of the workshop the suggestions and recommendations were received by the participants and speakers.
In the end the workshop identified the need for the introduction of campaign to increase public awareness of the protocol among legal practioner as well as common people. To increase the current level of awareness it is required that lawyers and judges who are involved in these cases should be more awarded and sensitized. This could be achieved through a targeted program of awareness rising at National level.

Poster exhibition on the theme of "Equal access to education, training and science and technology" pathway to decent work for women

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