PESHAWAR, Nov 28: Speakers at a seminar here on Thursday stressed the need for giving representation to women in tribal jirga so that they could raise voice for their rights.

The seminar was arranged by Society for Rights and Development in collaboration with Strengthening Participator Organisation (SPO) as part of community awareness regarding gender-based violence.

Addressing the seminar, executive director of Society for Rights and Development Zar Ali Khan Musazai said that jirgas were constituted in tribal areas to decide the future of a girl or woman but unfortunately there was no representation of women in those jirgas.

`In Pakhtun jirgas women are not given representation and only men have the power to decide the future of women and girls,` he added.

Mr Musazai said that the UN GeneralAssembly in 1993 defined violence against women as any act of gender-based violence that resulted in or was likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.

In 1993 the UN General Assembly presented a partial list of what it felt constituted gender-based violence including, physical, sexual and psychological, dowry related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation, rape and sexual abuse, sexual harassment in the workplaces and educational institutions, women trafficking and forced prostitution.

Mr Musazai said that women in that part of the world often kept silent over violence.

`This is domestic violence. In our country bill against domestic violence was rejected by Senate as well as provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,` he added.