Violence Against Women
Source: The Star
Police have been accused of not doing enough to protect women from violence.
A report by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime indicates that police attitude and response to victims of gender violence could hurt prevention of future violence and protection of victims.
UNODC representative Loide Lungameni said that police officers work with victims, offenders, witnesses and various forms of evidence, hence were in a position to put to an end violence against women. She was speaking yesterday at the launch of the report entitled 'Establishing Independent Policing Oversight in Kenya'.
She said that violence against women was a global issue of pandemic proportions which affected societies and termed it a violation of human rights and fundamental freedom of victims. "Such violence can have devastating effect on the lives of victims, their families and communities," Loide said.
The representative said that violence against women was linked to gender inequalities and power imbalances in relationships. She noted that many women opted to stay in an abusive relationship for fear of their personal safety and that of their children.
She urged the UN member states to encourage women to join police forces, including at the operational level as a way of responding to violence against women.
"Another initiative to strengthen the criminal justice system's response to violence against women is to establish specialized police services to protect women victims of violence," she said.
She added that creation of courts specializing in domestic violence and the introduction of training of law enforcement and judicial officers was another criminal remedy that could curb the vice.
Lungameni added that while there were many accounts of poor police practices in responding to violence against women, much had been done to address such vices and meet the needs of victims.