On her sixth international mission as Japan’s UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, Yuko Arimori visited Pakistan from 8th to 14th June.

She was accompanied by Japanese journalists, a photographer, and JOICFP, who organized the mission in collaboration with UNFPA Pakistan and Rahnuma - the Family Planning Association of Pakistan.

Arimori went to Pakistan especially to see firsthand the situation of women, and how gender inequality affects their lives and health.

2005 saw a major earthquake strike areas of north and northwest Pakistan. Arimori visited refugee camps, and saw how RH services were being provided by UNFPA mobile service teams, and how it was supporting governmental health facilities such as basic health units and district hospitals.

Arimori meets with refugees
from the 2005 earthquake
in a camp in Mansehra

In Muzaffarabad, Arimori visited the Kato Women’s Center, built with fund from the Japanese Embassy in 2005 to support reproductive health (RH) care for women. The center was one of the few buildings to withstand the earthquake, and became the hub of relief activities.

It now provides RH care for women and girl’s vocational training.

At this UNFPA Women Friendly Center in Mansehra, women can learn sewing skills, and take computer and literacy classes, and also have an opportunity to leave the house unaccompanied


A young women displays her
traditional embroidery,
made with skills learned at the Kato center

The Japanese government was one of the first to respond to the needs of the earthquake survivors, sending 210,000 female hygiene kits with US$1.3 million.

At a women’s crisis center in Islamabad, Arimori met with women who had suffered domestic violence, including:

Rape
Acid disfigurement
Forced prostitution by the husband
Abandonment

She also visited a poverty alleviation project run by Rahnuma and supported by UNFPA, where active community women partake in a micro-credit scheme.

Arimori meets with women empowered
by micro-credit through Rahnuma’s project

In Lahore, the mission observed a girl’s madrassa (Islamic religious school) whereRH education has recently been initiated by NGOs.

Throughout the trip, the journalists met and interviewed various people, such as religious leaders, women activists, NGOs promoting women’s rights and lawyers.

The interviews will be part of articles to be published in the Japanese press designed to raise awareness of the Japanese public of the realities of the lives of women in Pakistan.

The mission saw how national law, religious law, and local customary law vied with each other in providing an irregular framework to protect women and their human rights.

At a press conference in Lahore, around 30 media representatives heard Arimori explain her experience of the trip to Pakistan.

Her views were well received and reported, and the journalists asked many questions, including how the Japanese media try to persuade people to have fewer children.

The reality is, of course, that the Japanese press would like to persuade people to have more children, and highlights the difficulty in enlisting support from people in Japan for family planning overseas.

(For the full text of her speech in Lahore, click here)

Arimori gives her impressions of Pakistan
at the Lahore press conference

On her return to Japan, Arimori gave a ten-minute television speech on the national Japan Broadcasting System (NHK), which was edited and shown on NHK International.

Her visit was reported in the major daily newspapers as well, with full-page spreads in some papers.

Arimori was also able to share her views at the World Population Day Special Symposium on 5th July in Tokyo.