Women Police in South Asia

Women Police in South Asia

Regional Conference

25-26 November, 2013

Table of ContentsPg

1. Agenda 3

1. List of Participants, Nepal conference7

1. Profile of Participants10

1. Administrative Notes for the Nepal Conference15

1. Concept Note – Regional Report entitled Women Police in South Asia17

1. Country Overviews
2. Women Police in Pakistan20
3. Women Police in Maldives26
4. Women Police in India 29

1. Criminal Procedure and Women Police in the region34

Reference Material

1. Strength of Female and Male Officers in Selected Countries35

1. Relevant International Standards on Gender Equality36

1. Comparative Table on Gender Policies of Police Organisations 40

1. Section on Women Police, Model Police Manual,

Bureau of Police Research and Development, India46

1. Agenda

The main intent of this two-day regional conference is to collectively discuss the topic of women in policing and feed these observations and learning into CHRI’s Regional Study on Women Police in South Asia. Participants include representatives of police services including serving women police officers as well as select civil society organizations and experts from each country. Our hope is that the conference will provide a forum for women police officers to share their experiences, including the difficulties they face while serving in the police. Preliminary observations of CHRI’s study will be presented and discussed. The principal objectives of the conference are to gain further insights into the realities of women in policing in the region, allow for collective thinking and exchange of ideas on ways to address policy gaps and practical challenges, and facilitate learning on, and from, regional trends and patterns.

25 November, Monday

09.00-09.30 / Registration of Participants
09.30-10.00 / Welcome Remarks
*Background to the Regional Study
Ms Maja Daruwala, Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
*Methodology of the Regional Study
Ms Devyani Srivastava, Programme Officer, Police Reforms Programme, CHRI
*Introduction of Participants
Session 1: What do the Numbers Tell Us: Gender Imbalance in the Police – Trends and Patterns
Objective: This session will highlight the main issues around the low representation of women police in each country – Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and the Maldives. The average representation of women in police in these countries is less than 5 percent. Presentations will provide an overview of the status of women police in each country, including their strength across ranks and key policy initiatives undertaken to improve their role and position within the police. The purpose is to familiarize participants with the broader national trends both in terms of the numbers of women police and also initiatives being taken to increase women police in each country.
10.00-10.10 / Introductory Comments by the Chair and Moderator
Ms Maja Daruwala, Director, CHRI
10.10-10.50 / National Trends
Bangladesh: Ms Fawzia Khondker, Police Reforms Programme, UNDP
India: Ms Devika Prasad, Senior Programme Officer, Police Reforms
Programme, CHRI
Maldives: Ms Devyani Srivastava, Programme Officer, CHRI
Pakistan: Ms Sundas Syed and Mr Yahya Ahmad, Individualland
The main themes to be covered in the presentations include:
Strength of women police in each country
Main trends in terms of representation of women across various ranks and departments
Key policy initiatives and efforts to improve representation of women in police
10.50-11.15 / Discussion
11.15-11.30 / Tea/Coffee
Session 2: In a Man’s World: Gender Discrimination in the Police – Experiences of Women Officers
Objective: Alongside poor representation, women officers face many challenges and difficulties fitting into an organization known to be a male bastion. The objective of this session is to examine the ways in which discrimination manifests against women police officers through the following policies and practices:
Recruitment: Are there aspects of recruitment and induction process which act as barriers to women?
Training: What kind of discrimination do women trainees face? What is the attitude of trainers towards women? What has the experience of women recruits been? Are equal opportunities available to both men and women for refresher and mid-career training?
Promotion: Why is there low representation of women at senior levels? What barriers do women face? Are there sufficient opportunities of growth for women officers?
Welfare: Are human resource policies and facilities suitable for women, such as separate barracks/restrooms/uniforms/ maternity leave?
Sexual harassment: How are allegations of sexual harassment dealt with by the police? Do policies / mechanisms exist? What difficulties do women officers face in reporting sexual harassment / accessing mechanisms?
Functions/Deployment: What are the duties and functions assigned to women officers? What are the attitudes of male colleagues and how do they manifest?
11.30-11.40 / Remarks by the Chair
Ms Maja Daruwala, Director, CHRI
11.40-12.00 / Ms Shahala Pervin,Additional Superintendent of Police, Bangladesh Police
12.00-12.20 / Ms Izmia Zahir,Chief Inspector of Police, Maldives Police Service
12.20-1.00 / Discussion
1.00-2.00 / Lunch
2.00-2.20 / Ms Rina Mita,Director, National Police Mission, Bureau of Police Research and Development
2.20-2.40 / Ms Maruti Joshi,Additional Superintendent of Police, Rajasthan Police Service
2.40-3.30 / Discussion
3.30-3.45 / Tea/coffee
3.45-3.55 / Video – Experience of Women Police in Pakistan
(Interviews of women officers conducted by Individualland)
3.55-4.10 / Comments from Mr Yahya Ahmad and Ms Sundas Syeda,Research Officers, Individualland
4.10-4.30 / Presentation by Dr Shoaib Suddle,Former Inspector General of Police, Pakistan
4.30-5.30 / Discussion
26 November, Tuesday
Session 3: Making a Change: Current efforts towards empowering women police
Objective: This session aims to review efforts being taken to improve the condition of women police in each country. Police departments across the region have expressed their support for gender diversity within the police. Laying down of recruitment quotas for women in police, establishment of all women police stations and the creation of women police networks are a few of the measures that have been taken in the region by way of empowering women police officers. How successful have these measures been? What results have they yielded? How can these be improved?
09.00-09.30 / Remarks by the Chair
Mr Kamal Kumar,Retired IPS and Former Director, National Police Academy
Gender Policies for Police Organizations: Potential and Challenges
09.30-09.45 / Gender Policy, Bangladesh Police: Process and Issues
Ms Fawzia Khondker, Gender Specialist, Police Reform Programme, UNDP
09.45-10.00 / Gender Audit and Policy, Pakistan: Process and Issues
Dr Khola Iram, Principal Advisor, GIZ (German Society for International Cooperation)
10.00-10.30 / Discussion
Attempts at Mainstreaming Women Police: Select Examples
10.30-10.45 / Measures taken by Kerala Police
Mr Jacob Punnoose, Former Director General of Police, Kerala
10.45-11.00 / All India National Conference of Women Police
Ms Rina Mitra, Director, National Police Mission Division, Bureau of Police Research and Development
11.00-11.15 / Policy Initiatives on Women in Police, Maldives
Mr Abdul Mannan, Superintendent of Police, Maldives Police Service
11.15-11.45 / Discussion
11.45-12.00 / Tea/Coffee break
12.00-12.20 / Gender-Diverse Police Services: International Best Practices
Ms Aideen Gilmore, Independent expert on policing and human rights, Northern Ireland
12.20-1.00 / Discussion
1.00-2.00 / Lunch
Session 4: The Way Forward: Advocating for better policing
Objective: This session will explore recommendations for change within police departments through the specific lens of improving conditions and internal environments for women police. This session will involve working in country-specific groups to devise recommendations and advocacy strategies for adoption of these recommendations in relation to recruitment, training, promotion, welfare, sexual harassment, and deployment. It will also discuss potential ways in which civil society can assist in these efforts, taking guidance particularly from countries where civil society is already engaged.
Remarks by the Chair
Maja Daruwala and Devika Prasad, CHRI
2.00-2.45 / Group work: Recommendations and Advocacy Strategies
2.45-3.30 / Presentation by each group
3.30-3.45 / Summing of recommendations
3.45-4.00 / Tea/Coffee
4.00-5.00 / Open Discussion
5.00 – 5.15 / Concluding remarks
Maja Daruwala, Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

Funded By:

European

Union

2. List of Participants

No / Country / Name / Organisation / Contact Details
1 / Maldives / Aneesa Ahmed / Director, Hope for Women /
2 / Maldives / Abdul Mannan / Chief Superitendent of Police, Head of Service Development Directorate /
3 / Maldives / Izmia Zahir / Chief Inspector of Police, Commander of North Police Division /
4 / Maldives / Aiminath Suzee / Subinspector of Police, head of drug and chemical laboratory /
5 / Maldives / Shahindha Ismail / Director, Maldivian Democracy Network /
6 / Maldives / Mariyam Mohamed / UNWomen /
7 / Maldives / Affan didi / Programme Officer, Maldivian Democracy Network /
8 / Maldives / Suzeena Yoosuf / Chief Station Inspector, Maldives Police /
9 / India / Maja Daruwala / Director, CHRI /
10 / India / Devika Prasad / Senior Programme Officer, Police Reforms Programme, CHRI /
11 / India / Aditi Datta / Senior Programme Officer, Police Reforms Programme, CHRI /
12 / India / Devyani Srivastava / Programme Officer, Police Reforms Programme, CHRI /
13 / India / Anirudha Nagar / Programme Officer, Police Reforms Programme, CHRI /
14 / India / Vivek Trivedi / Programme Officer, Police Reforms Programme, CHRI /
15 / India / Dona John / Programme Executive, FNF /
16 / India / Jacob Punnoose / Former Director General of Police, Kerala /
17 / India / Kamal Kumar / Former Director, National Police Academy /
18 / India / Maruti Joshi / Additional SP, Rajasthan Police Service /
19 / India / Rina Mitra / Director, National Police Mission, BPRD
20 / India / Renuka Srinivasan / Programme Manager, European Union /
21 / Ireland / Aideen Gilmore / Independent expert on policing /
22 / Pakistan / Khola Iram / Principal Advisor, GIZ, Gender Responsive Policing Project /
23 / Pakistan / Bilal Saeed / Program Officer, Police Reforms, Center for Peace and Development Initiatives /
24 / Pakistan / Yahya Ahmad / Focal Person, Counter Violent Extremism, Individualland /
25 / Pakistan / Sundas Syeda / Research Officer, Individualland /
26 / Pakistan / Ihsan Ghani / Director, National Police Bureau
27 / Pakistan / Shoaib Suddle / Former Inspector General of Police, Sindh /
28 / Pakistan / Tomas Stravinskas / Development Advisor, Rule of Law and Peace Building, EU Delegation to Pakistan /
29 / Bangladesh / Mahbuba Akhter / Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust /
30 / Bangladesh / Shehela Parveen / Additional Superintendent of Police, Bangladesh Police /
31 / Bangladesh / Hamida Parvin / Additional Superintendent of Police, Bangladesh Police /
32 / Bangladesh / Fawzia Khondker Eva / Police Reforms Programme, UNDP /
33 / India / Prasad / Finance Officer, CHRI /
34 / India / Sumit Bains / Finance Administrator, FNF /

Funded By:

European

Union

3. Profile of Participants

AHMAD, Yahya

Ms Yahya Ahmad, in his current capacity of Focal Person in the CVE wing (Counter Violent Exremism) with Individualland, has been involved with the initiatives mainly concerning CVE also contributing to human rights, governance and media literacy. In other main contributions made, conducting in-depth research of role of women police, workplace challenges in Pakistanthrough field visits, dialogue, and surveys remain prominent. He has also assisted in analysis of the information and compilation in the form of four publications, namely ‘Women Police in Pakistan’, ‘Women Police as Change Agents’, ‘Male Police Perception of Women Police in Pakistan’ and ‘Public Perception of Women Police in Pakistan’. Other contributions include an article based on the research titled “Women in the Ranks” in the September 2013 issue of Newsline magazine. Among other interests, he also looks into the role of media, in relation to its responsibility and independence of the society.

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AHMED, Aneesa

Ms AneesaAhmed is one of the leading advocates for gender-based violence in the Maldives.She is the founder and chairperson of the NGO ‘Hope for Women’, the only organization in Maldives working for women’s rights. Earlier in her services to the government as Deputy Minister of Women Affairs in 2012, she constantly addressed the issues of women’s rights and domestic violence. Through various programs of Hope for Women, Aneesa raised issues of gender injustice and violence against women with policy-makers and works to influence changes in the policies for the benefit of improved women’s rights protection. Civic education programmes on gender and violence against women, Addressing women’s rights from an Islamic perspective, and promoting discussion in the media on causes, consequences and alternatives to women’s rights violations are other programs of Hope for Women. Aneesa believes that the civil society actors should fill vital roles to address current situations of Maldives conservative and prejudicial mindsets like Islamic teachings being used as a tool in repressingand relegating women to marginal existences and serious acts of violence.

In March 2012, Aneesa became the second Maldivian to be honored with the prestigious ‘Secretary of State’s Award for International Women of Courage’ in recognition of her exceptional courage and leadership in advocating women’s rights and empowerment.

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AKHTER, Mahbuba

Ms Mahbuba Akhter is the Assistant Director of Communications and Advocacy at the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST). Her primary focus is on identifying advocacy issues and framing strategies for media advocacy campaigns with a view to bringing changes in legislative policies and laws affecting the poor and women.

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GILMORE, Aideen

Ms Aideen Gilmore is an independent consultant working on issues of policing, justice and human rights. She has conducted research, policy analysis and evaluation for a range of international and domestic human rights organisations including the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, the International Commission of Jurists, and the International Human Rights Internship Programme on issues such as police reform and oversight, the independence of judges and lawyers, and rights-based budget analysis. Aideen is on a career break from her position as Deputy Director of the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) a prize-winning independent NGO which seeks to ensure the highest standards in the administration of justice in Northern Ireland by ensuring that government complies with its international human rights obligations. Aideen was responsible for leading the CAJ’s four key areas of work – policing, criminal justice, equality and the protection of rights. She had previously worked in the Human Rights Unit of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, as a member of the Irish Government’s delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights in

Geneva. She graduated with a BA (Hons) in Government and Law in 1996 and an MA in Administrative and Legal Studies in 1997, both from the University of Ulster.

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IRAM, Khola

DrKhola Iram has served in national and international organisations managing health projects in Pakistan for settled communities and in refugee camps. While working on reproductive health she realized that securing reproductive rights is the only answer to ensure reproductive health of women which demanded protection of women rights in general that changed her focus from medicine to work exclusively on women rights. She took up courses in International Law on Human Rights, Refugee law, Women and Peace building, and Gender to follow her personal mission to improve the status of women in her country. She joined GIZ in 2006 and served as a senior advisor and is now in the capacity of a Team Leader in GIZ (the German Agency for International Cooperation), a project initiative of Gender Responsive Policing, a bilateral collaboration of the Government of Germany and Pakistan working towards gender just police services.Dr Khola Iram is a fellow from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore USA and holds a degree in Medicine.

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ISMAIL, Shahindha

Ms Shahindha Ismail is one of the founding members of the Maldivian Democracy Network and is presently the Executive Director of the same organization. In her earlier services list, Ms Ismail occupied the president’s seat for the Police Integrity Commission from July 2009 until October 2012. Followed by a mass arrest of over 300 demonstrators and a multiple reports of police brutality in 2004, she started to work on police reforms by constituting the MDN.

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JOHN, Dona

Ms Dona John works with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation’s regional office in New Delhi. She is responsible for the execution of European Union Project on Civil Society and Police Reforms in South Asia. She takes keen interest in governance, rule of law and criminal justice reforms initiatives. She is a trained lawyer with dual specialization in Human Rights and Labour Industrial laws. Prior to joining this foundation, she worked with an American Corporate Sustainability firm for 8 years where she headed the Research & Development department for South Asia.

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JOSHI, Maruti

Ms Maruti Joshi is a female police officer working in the area of active civilian policing for the last fifteen years. She joined police the organisation as a Rajasthan Police Service officer in 1997 just after completing post-graduation in Political Science and since then has been working with the law enforcement agency of the world’s biggest democracy. During the long span of her career, she has handled various important administrative and field postings in the police administration of the largest Indian state, Rajasthan. She has functioned in various supervisory capacities in the senior middle management level. She was the only female officer in the batch of thirty-five officers and a lone female officer joining State Police Services after a span of twenty years. She was responsible for the formulation and functioning of MSSK (Mahila Salah Suraksha Kendra), a Multi-agency centre to ensure multi-dimensional assistance to victims of Domestic Violence and worked closely with various women’s groups and other NGOs to facilitate better delivery mechanisms in the areas of Violence against Women.Presently she is working as Chief Security Officer with Rajasthan State Fair Authority, Jaipur, which is a specialised agency looking after safety and security in the fairs and festivals of Rajasthan State.

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EVA, Fawzia Khondker

Ms Khondker is the Component Head and Gender Specialist with the Police Reform Programme( PRP) of UNDP- Bangladesh. She started her career with Oxfam, Bangladesh and subsequently worked for several national and international organisations, namely PROSHIKA, Canadian International Development Agency, OXFAM- Novib, World Food Porgramme and UNDP. She has developed gender strategy papers and gender policies for different development institutions and assessed and provided technical support to16 partners of Oxfam- Novib (ON) using the Gender Mainstreaming and Leadership Trajectory framework as the consultant of ON. She has been an integral part of the women’s movement in Bangladesh and actively involved in women, human rights and peace movement in Bangladesh and the South Asian region. She is a core committee member of a South Asian Network, SANGAT along with several other networks in Bangladesh. She has developed and published Gender Guidelines for Bangladesh Police, authored a Booklet on ‘What is Gender’, and also translated few books covering gender and feminist issues. She was actively involved in Beijing process from Bangladesh and attended 4th World Conference and Beijing Plus Five and Plus Ten. She has a Masters in sociology from Dhaka University.