ISLAMABAD, JAN 30 (DNA) – Vulnerable migrant women must be included in the National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER). This step will enable them to receive support through national and local level social protection schemes such as BISP and Ehsaas Emergency Cash Program. The speakers highlighted this need during a workshop titled ‘Climate induced migration in Pakistan,’ held by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here in Islamabad.
The purpose of the workshop was to create awareness among journalists reporting on climate change. A group of journalists based in Islamabad attended the workshop.
While highlighting the importance of NSFR, Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director SDPI, explained to the participants that the females that are forced to migrate (internal displacement) due to climate change, face several issues ranging from a lack of access to health and education, insufficient availability of food and evacuation to bonded labour etc.
“Provision of safe shelters, medicines, food and water during disasters should be the top priority of the government,” Dr Suleri added with a particular reference to vulnerable migrant women.
Maryam Shabbir Abbasi, Environmentalist at SDPI, earlier stressed the need for a gender-responsive policy for climate induced female migration. She added further that women face issues of harassment and rape during disasters and these should be controlled by taking measures at a higher level. She also highlighted the plight of pregnant women during the disaster and trauma they go through due to lack of access to healthcare services.
The participants of the workshop highlighted several pertinent issues regarding the topic and presented a way forward based on the research recently conducted by SDPI in collaboration with Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), as part of the South Asia Migration and Climate (SAMAC) project. The project ‘Improving Migration Management in the Silk Routes Countries,’ is funded by the European Union through the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).=DNA
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