Activists consider policewomen conditions shocking

General Director of Human Rights Department of the Interior Ministry has said that Afghan women are still subject to abuse in their forces ranks.

Gul Yar Shirdad, General Director of Human Rights Department of the Interior Ministry, however said to consider the women’s interest become more to join the interior ministry than the previous years but noted that they are still struggling against the culture.

Only 1 per cent of the Afghan National Police is female. Although female police are vital for Afghan women to be able to report crimes and access desperately-needed justice, few women in Afghanistan will ever encounter one.

Further action is urgently needed to recruit, train, retain and protect Afghan female police officers. This is critical for upholding the rights of Afghan women and girls and can contribute to sustainable peace and development efforts in Afghanistan.

Afghan policewomen, struggling to maintain good reputations, face a legion of logistical problems poorly understood by Western donors — a need for separate changing rooms in police stations, for example, since women are afraid to wear their uniforms on their way to work.

After a decade and millions of dollars, even the modest goal of recruiting 5,000 policewomen remains a mirage. In fact, only 2,700 are on the force, less than 2 percent of the 169,000 members, according to the United Nations’ office in Kabul based on numbers from the Afghan Interior Ministry.

Meanwhile, Afghan civil society activists are said to consider the conditions of policewomen shocking and stressed that many fields should be provided for the recruitment of Afghan policewomen.

Under the Taliban, girls were banned from attending school, medical treatment was often refused to them, and women and girls were routinely subjected to ongoing violence and discrimination.

Afghanistan still ranks as one of the worse countries to be a woman, mostly due to ongoing violence and sexualized violence, poor or inexistent access to healthcare, and extreme poverty. Forced marriages, sexualized violence, domestic abuse, and lack of participation in economic, public, and social life still plague most Afghan women.