Journal of Global Social Work Practice, Volume 4, Number 2, November/December 2011
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Human Rights Education for Women in Pakistan: Challenges and Opportunities In Pakistan, women are vulnerable to human rights violations stemming from gender inequality and discrimination. Human rights guaranteed in laws are often far removed from their daily lives and they also experience challenges realizing these rights in practice. Human rights education is one vehicle for empowering women to access and defend their rights. This article presents a model of human rights education in Pakistan, where local women are trained as paralegals to work within their communities to educate other women regarding human rights and to connect them to sources of legal and social assistance. Based on a synthesis of interviews with founders and graduates of the program and participant observation during field work in Pakistan in 2007 and 2009, this article examines the strengths and limitations of this model within the human rights context of Pakistan and the implications for global social work practice. Keywords: Pakistan, grassroots, human rights education, paralegal training, women's empowerment Filomena M. Critelli is Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work, University at Buffalo where she teaches social policy and international social work. She has been conducting research on women in Pakistan since 2005.
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