Government fails to provide basic human rights to women inmates
ISLAMABAD: The government has failed to provide basic human rights to women prisoners as about 90 percent of women suffer jailers’ bad behaviour, malnutrition, health services and legal aid deprivation, hygienic problems and deprivation of children education.
Sources told Business Recorder here on Thursday that women in jails are a marginalised group with regard to access to basic human rights, as most of women suffering from diseases are not provided satisfactory health services.
They said that the quality of the basic human need, safe drinking water, is substandard as about 78 percent of the female jail inmates have declared the quality of drinking water unsatisfactory.
The medical needs of female prisoners include psychological problems, physical illness, blood pressure, diabetes, heart diseases, infections, tuberculosis, pregnancy, abortions, birth control and births, they said.
Moreover, female prisoners exhibit a higher demand of medical and psychiatric services than male but unfortunately the government has failed to provide satisfactory health services to women. Despite huge health budget, the victimised women who actually desire for health funding remain deprived of health services which shows negligence of the government regarding the issue, they added.
It was stated that the failure to properly assess and adequately treat the women has desperate effect on the welfare and development of women in jails that shows actual condition of Women Development Ministry that provides only lip service and raises empty slogans on securing women rights.
They further said that it is the responsibility of the government and also the jail authorities to provide medical facilities to the women prisoners, they said. The children accompanying their mothers in jails are also entitled for the education facility to be arranged by the jail authorities but the phenomenon is totally non-existent in the jails, they said.
On the provision of education to women prisoners’ children, the reality is that the facility is almost non-existent in jails and the future of country is languishing in darkness, they said. The availability of legal aid or assistance to women prisoners is also not satisfactory in jails, they said.
The Ministry of Health should appoint lady doctors in jails for 24 hours to attend female patients, they said. The government should also provide free legal aid in jails so that these imprisoned women may have access to justice and food must be given according to health standards and hygienic conditions must be made better so that women prisoners may have basic human rights that is their birth right.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:2/16/2007
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