Why This Campaign?

Families of death row defendants, particularly women, face tough and often traumatic experiences in a system that inherently discriminates against them. This campaign illustrates the experience of the family members of indigent defendants and how systemic problems in the justice system (such as power and corruption) intersect with poverty, access to legal representation, torture in police custody etc.

For World Day Against the Death Penalty, observed every October 10, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty has chosen “Women and the death penalty: An invisible reality” as this year’s theme. Although Pakistan sentences very few women to death, the justice system disproportionately affects women who have to engage with the system in one way or another, whether it is visiting a police station to file a complaint or to attend court hearings. A 2018 study by Agnes Callamard, titled “Judged For More Than Her Crime” found, “Women in conflict with the law are particularly vulnerable to abuse and other rights violations, either at the police station, during trial, or while incarcerated. Women are more likely than men to be illiterate, which affects their ability to understand and participate in their own defense.

A report by the Ministry of Human Rights, titled “Plight of Women in Pakistan’s Prisons”, found that women were less knowledgeable and less empowered to Pakistan’s existing criminal justice system. To date, Pakistan has not had a single female judge in the Supreme Court and there are less than 10 female judges in the country’s high courts. This gender disparity exists within lawyers as well as the police force, both traditionally male dominated professions. This makes access to justice much more difficult for women involved in the system.