By Amin Kawa
October 14, 2024
Credits @FFHR.CZ
Human Rights Watch has released a report titled “Double Betrayal: Abuses against Afghan Policewomen, Past and Present,” calling on countries that financed the former Afghan police force to offer refuge to female officers.
The report reveals that the Taliban have threatened women who served as police during the previous government, adding to the risks they already face from family members opposed to their work. Citing interviews, the report highlights that these women were victims of sexual harassment under the previous administration, with no accountability for the perpetrators. Human Rights Watch argues that female police officers have been betrayed twice: first by the previous government, which allowed widespread sexual abuse, and then by countries that have neglected these women’s pleas for refugee status. Many of these women have now gone into hiding in Afghanistan and neighboring countries, fearing retaliation from the Taliban.
The report also underscores that sexual abuse against female police officers in Afghanistan continues. Women experienced violence, mistreatment, and harassment under both the previous government and the Taliban regime. One former police officer shared that a senior security official sexually assaulted her, but she stayed silent to avoid losing custody of her children. She recalled: “The district police chief came to my house at night and assaulted me. My husband was away that day. She cried in front of me, saying she couldn’t file a formal complaint because she feared her husband would divorce her and she would lose custody of her children.”
Another interviewee described the hidden reality behind official appearances: “From the outside, everything seemed fine, but for those working inside, it was different. I saw guards harassing women, stopping them, even touching them. One guard told me he could do whatever he wanted to me.”
Harassment has persisted since the Taliban regained power. One woman reported that she received a call from the Taliban demanding that she return to work. She gave them a false name, but they accused her of lying and insisted she resume her job. Terrified, she hung up. They called again, saying: “Do you want to come willingly, or should we come and take you?”
She now lives in constant fear: “Whenever I go to the market, I wear a mask and sunglasses so no one recognizes me. If people find out, they might tell the Taliban I used to work for the police.”
Fereshta Abbasi, a Human Rights Watch researcher on Afghan affairs, explained: “The Taliban’s repression of women and girls disproportionately affects former female police officers. Countries that financed and trained women in the former police force must now demand that the Taliban end all abuses against women and girls.”
Human Rights Watch has urged the U.S., Canada, Japan, and European countries to grant refugee status to former Afghan policewomen. The report emphasizes: “Countries that financed police training must provide refuge to individuals at risk.”
The report further notes: “Former Afghan policewomen have been betrayed twice—first by the previous government, which allowed serious abuses to continue without holding anyone accountable, and then by countries that ignored these abuses and failed to offer refuge to women seeking protection.”
This report is based on interviews with 24 former female police officers. It includes 10 in-person interviews and 9 remote interviews with women from five provinces in Afghanistan, as well as five remote interviews with women in the U.S., Sweden, Italy, Iran, and Pakistan. Most of the women spoke of long-term psychological trauma from the abuses they endured, yet they struggled to access adequate psychological support. Human Rights Watch also interviewed former and current UN officials and civil society activists familiar with these issues.
The organization also reported that several former policewomen and female officials have been killed, apparently by relatives who believed their work had “shamed” the family. The Taliban have failed to conduct credible investigations into these murders.
Human Rights Watch noted that many of the women interviewed described humiliating home searches by Taliban forces, which often resulted in abuse from their relatives and damage to their property. These women also revealed that, under the previous administration, superiors pressured them into sexual relationships for career advancement or to avoid being fired. The report emphasizes that these widespread abuses have been known since at least 2013, including by the countries that supported the former government. However, the police officers responsible for the misconduct have never been held accountable.
The report further states that women employed in the previous government, including those in the police force, lost their jobs when the Taliban returned to power. Although the Taliban has asked some former policewomen to return to work in specific roles—such as inspecting women at checkpoints and guarding female prisoners—most have faced significant difficulties in finding new sources of income. Afghanistan’s economic collapse has hit former policewomen especially hard.
Many former policewomen have fled to Iran or Pakistan, while others are seeking asylum in other countries. Fereshta Abbasi, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, commented, “Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, former policewomen have been forced to flee due to threats from officials and increasing violence from family members who opposed their work as police officers.”
Human Rights Watch has called on the Taliban to stop all harassment and threats against former policewomen and others who worked for the previous government. The organization urged the Taliban to take meaningful action to address incidents of violence. It also urged countries that supported the training and employment of women in the Afghan police—such as the United States—to assist those seeking refugee status and prioritize these women in resettlement efforts.
The organization emphasized that the U.S. must ensure that former policewomen remaining in Afghanistan, or those temporarily seeking U.S. support in third countries, are considered for resettlement alongside other vulnerable groups. Additionally, it called on the U.K., European Union, Canada, and Japan to expand their resettlement programs for Afghan refugees, with a special focus on women at risk.
Source: 8am.media
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