09. If women were able to exercise fully their right to free choice of a profession, it could mean that about half the members of a police agency would consist of women police officials. Would such an agency be operationally more effective or less effective than agencies with a much smaller ratio of women to men officials? State what you consider to be the ideal ratio of women to men police officials in a police agency. Give reasons for your reply. 10. For the sake of discussion, imagine that a series of rapes and other violent attacks on women have taken place in the area of your police agency and that the attacker or attackers remain undetected. Consider all the steps that could be taken by your police agency to advise women on how to avoid becoming victims; to prevent further attacks; and to reassure the population generally. Exercise The rights of women A. Irina is a 34-year-old Exland woman living in a nearby village. She is married to Ivan and has two school-age children. Irina works as a maintenance assistant in the building adjacent to the police station in which you are posted. Staff have noticed that she often comes to work bruised or bandaged. Rebecca, a local officer, has approached Irina on the subject and, after having gained her trust, discovers that Ivan beats Irina at home. Irina explains that neighbours have called the police on at least three occasions when Ivan was beating her but that the police, on discovering that it is a “domestic dispute”, always leave without intervening, simply encouraging the couple to “work it out between themselves”. Irina is terrified of her husband, but explains that she cannot leave him on account of the two young children. The family barely gets by on the parents’ two incomes and Irina does not know how she could possibly support the family alone. And anyway if the police can do nothing to protect her, she sees no sense in risking her husband’s anger by leaving. 1. Why is this a human rights issue? 2. What should the local police do in such situations? 3. What will you advise Irina to do? B. You are to advise on the restructuring of the Exland police, with terms of reference to facilitate the incorporation of international human rights standards and to contribute to the increased effectiveness of the police. Only 2 per cent of the Exland police are women, and most of those hold clerical positions or are charged with supervising female detainees. 1. What will be your advice with regard to the recruitment, assignment and promotion of women police officers? 2. Which international standards will you base your advice on? 3. What arguments will you use to show that these measures will contribute to the increased effectiveness of the police? C. You have received information that a woman has been raped in police detention centre Z-5. She was apparently being held, along with four other women, in connection with an investigation into anti-Government rebel activity. She has since been released, but the four others remain in custody. The woman is deeply traumatized by the assault, wants no one to know about it and, other than revealing the incident to her sister, has refused to speak about the matter. 1. Is this a human rights violation, a crime or both? 2. 3. 4. What are the applicable international standards? What action should be taken? Should the action taken be different if the woman refuses to speak about the matter? 146