The Technical Working Group – IV formed under the Multisectoral Coordination Committee (MSCC) held a meeting on 30th September 2024 in Karachi for ‘Piloting and Operationalization of One Stop Protection Center (OSPC)’. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Shahnawaz Soomro, the Additional Secretary, Home Department, Government of Sindh.
The meeting consisted of focal persons of relevant government department, including, Women Development Department, Sindh Police, Health Department and UNFPA, Pathfinders and LAS.
Barrister Rida Tahir highlighted that SHRC, as per its mandate has written a letter for the notification of Women and Children Police Stations (WCPS), as 3 out of the 10 WCPS in Sindh are not notified. The Worthy Chair, Mr Soomro agreed to notification of the remaining WCPCs while the government continues to establish WCPS across all districts of Sindh. The WCPS will cater as OSPCs to provide effective redressal to the aggrieved persons in a well-coordinated manner. The first OSPC will be piloted in the WCPS at Hyderabad.
Further, SHRC’s ‘Roadmap for Addresses Domestic Violence in Sindh’ was shared along with an overview of the data on cases of domestic violence while outlining that Sindh does not have a governing law on shelter homes even though the conducing observations by the ICCPR Committee, the ICESCR Committee, the CEDAW Committee as well as the UNCRC Committee showed concerned regarding domestic violence.
