Renowned actress Mahira khan raised awareness about prevalent domestic and sexual violence in order to prevent such incidents.
Mahira khan as the National Goodwill ambassador for UNHCR spoke up in a video message as part of #JoinThe Chorus campaign and shared details about domestic and sexual violence incidents in the country.
“Hi I'm Mahira Khan, an actor from Pakistan, and I invite you to 'join the chorus' and say 'no more' to domestic and sexual violence.” She captioned the video, "We either know of or have experienced firsthand, some sort of abuse or sexual/domestic violence. The more we speak up, the more we break the silence surrounding domestic and sexual violence.”
In a follow up post, Mahira said, “Let's break the culture of silence that has enabled domestic and sexual violence to persist for so long.”
“The more we speak out against domestic and sexual violence, the more power we take from our abusers.”
The Humsafar actress related, “Home, it should be a space where we all feel safe. But for some, home can be a dangerous place. And while one voice can remain unheard, a chorus cannot be ignored. So together, we can help free those harmed by domestic and sexual violence, #JoinTheChorus.”
As per United Nations, "32% of women have experienced physical violence and 40% of ever-married women have suffered from spousal abuse at some point in their life (The Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey) in Pakistan. The UN agency, that aims to improve reproductive and maternal health worldwide, further adds that "One in two Pakistani women who have experienced violence never sought help or told anyone about the violence they had experienced.”