Information on the location and operation of women's police stations (follow-up to VEN13936) [VEN16234.E]

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.

References


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.

Attachments

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.