Kabul, April 25 (ANI): The Government of Afghanistan should take immediate action to ensure that the country's female police officers have access to separate, safe, and lockable restroom facilities in police stations, Human Rights Watch said today.
Kabul's police chief issued an order on April 10, 2013, for the province's police stations to provide separate toilets and change rooms for women, but similar orders have been ignored in the past, leaving all but a few of Afghanistan's 1,500 women officers without suitable and safe facilities.
Workplace sexual harassment is a serious problem in the public and private sectors in Afghanistan and female police officers are frequently the targets of harassment and assault, Human Rights Watch said.
In recent years there have been numerous media reports of rape of female police officers by male colleagues. The lack of safe and separate toilets makes women particularly vulnerable.
"The Afghan government's failure to provide female police officers with safe, secure facilities makes them more vulnerable to abuse. This is not just about toilets. It's about the government's recognition that women have a crucial role to play in law enforcement in Afghanistan," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Already the number of female police in the ranks of Afghanistan's security forces is small, slightly more than 1 percent of police officers in the country. The Interior Ministry, which oversees the Afghan police force, has set a goal of 5,000 women by the end of 2014, but has acknowledged that it is unlikely to meet this objective.
Addressing the concerns of police women is necessary to address the rampant violence against women in wider Afghan society, Human Rights Watch said.
Employing greater numbers of female police officers will improve access for women seeking to report violence and pursue justice, given the cultural sensitivity and stigma around reporting sexual and other violence against women.
In 2009, the Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women created new penalties for violence against women, but the law has not been adequately enforced, in part because of the lack of female police officers to assist female crime victims, including other police officers.
"Harassment and abuse is an everyday experience for many Afghan women. Without the consistent presence of female police officers across the country, legal protections for women will remain an unfulfilled promise," Adams said. (ANI)
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