Pakistan: CFWIJ takes delegation to the Federal Ombudsman for harassment. Both commit to a collaborative action plan.

July 17th, 2019: Kashmala Tariq Federal Ombudsperson against harassment at workplace and CFWIJ agreed to collaborate against harassment of women journalists.

A delegation of The Coalition For Women In Journalism’s Pakistan Chapter met with the country’s Federal Ombudsperson on harassment against women at workplace on Wednesday, to share their concerns on harassment against women journalists in and outside the workplace.

The CFWIJ discussed various challenges women journalists face inside work environments, newsrooms and in the field. Action items and steps that are needed to increase awareness on harassment were discussed. Kashmala Tariq agreed to collaborate with the CFWIJ to sensitize media organizations through interactive sessions and seminars.

Ombudsperson briefed the delegation on work of her office, she also assured the delegation to extend all her support to work together for creating a conducive environment for women journalists. Meeting agreed to collaborate on working together for awareness on harassment through seminars and interactive sessions. Meeting also discussed how to sensitize media to effectively report on harassment cases, in this regard a code for media on how to cover harassment issues and cases. Federal Ombudsperson also agreed keeping a close collaboration with the Coalition For Women In Journalism on all those harassment cases that are documented or reported by women in journalism to the CFWIJ or the office of Ombudsperson.

Women journalists in Pakistan find themselves in an exceedingly difficult situation to work where they are facing online threats and harassment at the workplace and in the field. The key issue here is the lack of protection and security that women journalists get when they decide to report these cases. Lack of community support and camaraderie is another major and defining obstruction is help women journalists feel the confidence to report harassment against them. It is critical to create an eco-system of support for women journalists in Pakistan, so they are initiate taking a stand against harassment for each other and for themselves.

The CFWIJ along with our global team stand in support with all women journalists trying to do their job. The organization welcomes the Ombudsperson’s positive response to the issue and hopes that the situation gets better for women journalists in Pakistan. We look forward to seeing the positive impact of these discussions, as we move forward to next steps.

The delegation included CFWIJ core member and senior journalist Tanzeela Mazhar, CFWIJ senior member renowned journalist Kathy Gannon, CFWIJ member and senior journalist Farhat Javed, Tasneem Ahmer Uks Executive Director, coalition supporters and Vice President of National Press Club and Shazia Nayyar member governing body of national press club.

Press Contacts:

<press@womeninjournalism.org>

Luavut Zahid

Global Coordinator

<luavut@womeninjournalism.org>

Tanzila Mazhar

Advocacy South Asia

<Tanzila@womeninjournalism.org>