Training of police officials on ending violence against women held in Khairpur

• Two day training was conducted by Individualland Pakistan on 1^st and 2^nd of November.
• The first round of capacity building trainings started in Khairpur from 25th of October.
• The training participants included senior police officers, mid level police officers and junior level police level police officers.

‘Lack of capacity and understanding of various dimensions of violence against women are the leading reasons why efforts to curb violence against women remain futile’, these remarks of a police officer who was part of a two-day capacity building training of police personnel on ending violence against women in Khairpur organised by Individualland Pakistan on November 1st and 2nd.

IL is in the process of implementing an initiative funded by UN Women based on capacity building of police personnel from Khairpur, Dadu, Karachi, Quetta and Rawalpindi.

The first round of capacity building trainings started in Khairpur from 25th of October. A total of five batches will be trained in each district. A total of four batches have been trained so far in Khairpur district. The training participants included senior police officers, mid level police officers and junior level police level police officers.

The event commenced with a discussion on dissecting power dynamics in which the term power was discussed. The types of power were also discussed which included structural power and personal power.

The participants were also briefed about the types of violence which included structural violence, cultural violence, physical violence, economical violence. It was also discussed that most of the mistakes conducted in judicial process occur due to the negligence in the understanding and categorisation of violence which results in improper enforcement of legal articles.

The facilitator also mentioned that the police officers must understand the cycles of violence, which are often ignored. Often the cases of domestic violence are not registered and regarded as personal matters or a family’s business.

The participants were also briefed about constitutional and legal framework in Pakistan including the institutions which act alongside with Police. The trainees were instructed to look at a case through the lens of humanity rather than marginalising them on the basis of gender.

Ways to support the survivors of violence as first responders were also discussed along with highlighting the social, economic and psychological impact of violence. The objective was to build an insight into the fears and apprehensions of the survivors that need to be addressed while building the survivors’ trust in the procedure.

Head of Police training centre Khairpur, SHO Mr. Rustam, highlighted the importance of sensitising the staff on issues related to VAW. He was of the view that “the system and the society have created an assumption that violence is a norm. We regard it as a personal matter which should be solved in the four walls of a house and law has nothing to do with it. This thought has occurred due to our lack of understanding of violence and exploitation of power”.

Individualland Pakistan a research based consultancy firm specializing in thematic areas of Gender mainstreaming, governance, peace building and media has advocated for Gender Inclusive Policing through training, enhancing the role of women police as well as Ending Violence against Women by emphasizing that women police stations should be an effective safe space for survivors.

The participants lauded the efforts of Individualland Pakistan in organizing such an informative session and demanded that such sessions need to be organized in the future as well. Mushoud Ali moderated the workshop on behalf of Individualland Pakistan.