During Kate Middleton and Prince William’s recent visit to Pakistan, they attended a reception at which William said that the UK and Pakistan needed to “work together” to tackle the “impending global catastrophe” of climate change.
Back home newspapers like The Express piled praise on them writing statements such as they “win hearts and minds wherever they go. They totally understand what is required of them”. The Express went on to claim that the couple represent Britain as “… a benign, caring and responsible nation”.
But what is “benign” and “caring” about failing to mention the abuse of women’s rights in Pakistan. According to the Humans Rights Watch World Report 2019 rape, honour killings, domestic violence, acid attacks and forced marriages are still a major problem in the country. Women from religious minorities are particularly vulnerable. For example, the report estimates that around 1000 Christian and Hindu girls are forced to marry Muslim men every year.
Twenty one percent of girls in Pakistan marry under the age of 18, and three percent are married under 15. And child sexual abuse remains common. In Lahore alone in the first half of 2018, 77 girls and 79 boys were raped or sexually assaulted.
I think the royal couple has shamefully let down our British values by visiting Pakistan. Not once did they think to raise the issue of oppression against women. Instead Prince William chose the less controversial problem of climate change, which I found shocking.
Had they highlighted the facts surrounding women’s rights in Pakistan, they could have provoked a debate that might have helped women achieve the status that women such as Kate enjoy in the UK. I think that the royals’ visit to Pakistan did not represent our country well at all. Instead the acres of pictures of them having fun at cricket matches and dancing with indigenous women from the north of the country gave the impression that all is good in Pakistani society – which from my point of view as a woman, is simply not true.
