PESHAWAR, Pakistan: The Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under which distressed complainants visiting the police station will be provided with immediate relief.
The MoU was signed during a ceremony held here in Central Police Office (CPO) that was attended by senior police officials besides representatives of Aitabar NGO.
Through the technical assistance provided by the Aitebaar programme, four qualified and trained psychologists, i.e. Victims Support Officers (VSOs) will be placed in two of the model police stations to assist the women desk officers while interviewing women, children and other cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV). Subsequently, a dedicated Women’s Help Line will be introduced within the existing Police Assistance Services (PAS) to take live calls and facilitate distressed complainants.
After initiating the service, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be the first province to pioneer the victims support services, while setting a new precedent for other provinces. It is an important step towards instilling a sense of security among the vulnerable segments of the society. Previously, the Aitebaar programme trained the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police officials on psychosocial first aid and provided them with the skills required to effectively deal with psychologically stressed complainants.
Aitebaar is a four-year UKAID funded program, implemented in collaboration with the KP Government with an aim to strengthen trust between citizens and government in the security and justice sector.
The programme works with government to initiate reforms in the process, procedures and law for improving quality of service in security and justice sector.
Source: APP
