KABUL: Only one per cent of Afghanistan’s police officers are female, and if the country does not increase the number of women in the service it will struggle to end crimes such as domestic abuse and “honour” killings, a report from Oxfam has found.

There is only one female police officer for every 10,000 women in Afghanistan, and the government fails prospective officers at every stage of their careers, the Women and the Afghan Police report found. Top commanders in Afghanistan show little interest in recruiting women. When they do join they are deprived of basic requirements such as uniforms and women-only toilet facilities.

They get limited or no training, are often assigned menial jobs and some report sexual harassment from their bosses, six months of research found.

“We often don’t even have boots, handcuffs or batons,” one policewoman from western Herat city told Oxfam.

“Afghan policewomen are risking their lives to serve their communities. They are harassed and killed because of stigma and ignorance,” said Elizabeth Cameron, Oxfam’s policy and advocacy advisor in Afghanistan. Oxfam called on the government to take rapid measures to ensure female officers are safe at work so they can tackle the cases of women at risk in their communities.

By arrangement with the Guardian