A group of female police officers in Afghanistan reported to Human Rights Watch (HRW) a series of sexual abuses committed by the country’s former government and the threats they currently face from the Taliban, according to a report of the organization.
Under the fallen government of the Republic (2014-2021) Hundreds of female police officers have been constantly harassed and sexually assaulted. by male colleagues and superiors, without any of them having to date suffered the necessary consequences.
“They never promoted me because I didn’t accept their offers of sex. They wanted me to sleep with them and spend the night (…) I tried to file a complaint, but nothing happened. happened,” said a former police officer who served for 16 years, according to the report.
“You are very pretty. You have very good makeup.”. Are you going somewhere? Do you have enough money? » were some of the phrases that many women had to hear constantlyaccording to a former head of women’s recruitment.
In the months after the Taliban seized power in August 2021, their security forces committed at least 47 revenge killings against members of the previous government’s police force, according to the organization.
Several women lost their jobsalthough many were incorporated into selected areas, either to search women at checkpoints or to monitor prisoners.
Many of the women received intimidating calls from Taliban officials asking them to come forward for questioning and warning them of consequences to their former jobs, according to reports. Efe.
“About three months after they took power, I received a call from the Taliban telling me to return to my job. I gave them a false name, but they accused me of lying (…) I got scared and I cut the call I received a call again and this time they asked me: ““Do you want to come alone or should we go drag you by your hair and bring you in?”» said another unidentified former police officer.
Taliban forces even attacked his relatives and damaged his personal property.
The report titled “Double Betrayal: Abuses against Afghan Policewomen in the Past and Present” also ensures that some officers were assassinatedapparently by relatives who consider his work a disgrace to the family.
The Taliban quickly dismantled the institutional structure established under the previous government, to impose a rigid application of Sharia (Islamic law) in Afghanistan.
The first of the measures that would set Afghanistan back two decades It took place immediately after the reconquest of the country, in August 2021, when They stopped the girls from returning to class.
Oppression has extended to rules regarding dress, freedom of movement, work, and even the sound of your voice in public.
