Aurat Foundation, in collaboration with Democracy Reporting International (DRI) organized a training workshop on CEDAW for Aurat Foundation’s core staff that would be monitoring the upcoming general elections.  The said training, delivered by DRI’s international consultant Ms Hannah Roberts and Madiha Farhan, focused on women’s participation in elections as voters and candidates.  The training participants included AF staff from Islamabad office (eleven), two each from Karachi and Quetta, Lahore and Peshawar offices, one each from Quetta and Skardu office, and

The content of the training included principals and structures of international human rights law, CEDAW obligations and commitments (article 7 and general recommendations 23), making written instruments, consideration of how Pakistan measures up in implementation of CEDAW commitments in regards to elections, awareness on how to assess compliance with CEDAW commitments, familiarity with the Declaration of Global Principles, electoral observation activities, identification of steps for reporting and familiarity with ICCPR and UDHR.  The participants agreed that De-Jure principles on women’s political participation, as put in the UN declarations, are not enough, and the government shall take’s De-Facto measure to ensure women’s political empowerment.  The government and the Election Commission of Pakistan shall take measure to empower and enable district elections commission office to become pro-active in ensuring women’s active participation in elections.

It was agreed that Democracy Reporting International and Aurat Foundation would prepare a brief paper on the outcome of the training workshop.