Dokument #1184248
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
Contrary to the information provided in a
United States radio report quoted in Response to Information
Request VEN13936 of 4 May 1993, a representative of a women's
research and education organization in Caracas stated that women's
police stations do not exist and have never existed in Venezuela
(CISFEM 30 Nov. 1993). The source added that the police forces
include women who receive police training and become police agents
and officers, but there are no police stations exclusively or
predominantly staffed by women, or intended to address the specific
needs of women (ibid.).
A representative of the Asociación
Venezolana para una Educación Sexual Alternativa (AVESA),
which assists women who are victims of sexual and domestic abuse,
stated that there are no women's police stations in Venezuela and
never have been (30 Nov. 1993). The source added that the police
forces include women in their ranks, but they are not assigned to
special police stations (ibid.).
Two reports from the Latin American women's
organization Isis that discuss the establishment of women's police
stations in Latin American countries do not mention Venezuela as
being among these countries (Boletín May 1993, 20-21;
Violencia 1990, 35-36).
Please find attached a copy of a 1992
United Nations report on the situation of women in Venezuela. The
report discusses the protection available to women who are victims
of sexual and domestic abuse, but contains no references to the
existence of women's police stations.
A document in Spanish that provides a
listing and description of assistance programs for women in
Venezuela is available at the DIRB. The document is entitled
Violencia en contra de la mujer en America Latina y el Caribe:
Directorio de Programa (1990, 116-119). The DIRB cannot provide
a translation of the document.
This response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
Asociación Venezolana para una
Educación Sexual Alternativa (AVESA), Caracas. 30 November
1993. Telephone interview with representative.
Boletín [Santiago]. May
1993. No. 1. Isis-Red Feminista Latinoamericana y del Caribe Contra
la Violencia Doméstica y Sexual.
Centro de Investigación Social,
Formación y Estudios de la Mujer (CISFEM), Caracas. 30
November 1993. Telephone interview with representative.
Violencia en contra de la mujer en
America Latina y el Caribe: Directorio de Programas. 1990.
Santiago: Isis-Red Feminista Latinoamericana y del Caribe Contra la
Violencia Doméstica y Sexual.
United Nations General Assembly. 24 June
1992. (A/47/38). Report of the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women (Eleventh session), pp.
92-100.