Global Lessons, Local Solutions - Integrating International Perspectives into Intimate Partner Violence in Pakistan

Abstract

In Pakistan, intimate partner violence is an ugly truth that affects everyone, particularly women. The laws are there to prosecute the guilty and save the victims, but they just fail when implemented. The victims usually hush up the matter due to societal embarrassment, fear of retaliation, financial difficulties, or simply being unaware of the legal recourse. There are legal assistance, shelters, and NGOs that attempt to put things together, but these are scant and in patchy areas. The judicial proceedings are protracted and the requirements of proof are astronomical, so that a successful prosecution or protective measure is a roll of the dice. Strong traditions and rigid, old-fashioned patriarchal values simply allow violence to simmer. The government, of course, makes its attempts, with such measures as awareness campaigns and helplines, which, in most situations, barely push the change into motion, but in isolation, those measures seldom suffice. In many cases, a wide range of states actually does.