Promoting Gender representation in the Afghan National Police

Code of Conduct Information Session

To strengthen the role of female police officers and to ease their integration into the police force, EUPOL and the ANP identified the need to provide guidance on a code of conduct, defining shared ethical standards in performing police work. Dr. Sima Samar, the Chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) tutored the participants on appropriate behaviour in the workplace. “The sustainable integration of female police into the ANP must be fostered by the females themselves,” she said.

Peacebuilding Workshop

Building peace in a country that has known more than four decades of armed conflict is undoubtedly a daunting task, but that is exactly what 30 female Afghan police officers, who attended a five-day peacebuilding workshop, intend to contribute to. "Our aim is to bring about positive change with regard to knowledge, attitudes and behaviours that have been affected during periods of war and violence," said Mr. Habibullah Farhang, a trainer on the course.

“We learned that in order to understand peace, you have to understand the root causes of conflict and recognize how, for example, the use of negative words or body language can lead to a conflict or how a small communication problem can grow into a violent dispute or even turn into a war. When talking about conflict resolution, we as a law implementing body should make sure that conflicts are prevented,” said Officer Arzoo Haidary.

3rd Educational Conference

The conference organised by the General Training Command of the Afghan Ministry of Interior (MoI) with the support of EUPOL Afghanistan brought together 80 participants at the ANP Academy, among them high-level commanders from the Department of Human Rights and Gender as well as teachers from training centres in Kabul and various provinces, and experts from NATO's Resolute Support Mission and the German Police Project Team (GPPT). The conference tackled challenges in implementing the MoI’s Gender and Anti-Corruption policies. The lectures covered corruption in the context of Islam as well as from legal and sociological perspectives.

The Afghan MoI’s Deputy Minister for Administration Lieutenant General Ikramuddin Yawar decried corruption: “Corruption is not only about paying money but also extends to not doing police work in an honest way. Such practices taint the image of the police in the eyes of the community.” Lieutenant General Yawar also stressed the importance of female policing. Notably, he suggested a shift in focus from merely increasing the number of female police officers to strengthening the skills of the existing female police force. He urged Afghanistan’s international partners to continue supporting civilian policing while calling for this type of conference to be extended to other provinces. EUPOL will continue assisting the MoI’s General Training Command in improving the capabilities of its training centres countrywide until the end of 2016.