Tanzania: How Police Gender, Children's Desk Help Community

By Correspondent Doris Gweba

ONE of the first questions that might be asked by the public and law enforcement officials is "What is the motive behind creating a Gender, Children's Desk at the Police Station?"

Tracing this desk in Tanzania takes us to May 2009, when the Tanzania Police Force inaugurated a project to establish it in all Police Stations throughout the country, with a police woman to deal with issues of violence against children and women, seemingly because they are the most vulnerable group to all sorts of abuse in the society.

These desks are staffed by police officers who have received training on how to interview victims and investigate reports of gender-based violence. If arguments are put aside, not all police officers understand about rape and some might take it as women's issue (because of the patrilocal culture we have) some would not even care.

For instance, a married woman who would go to report rape in marriage requires a special trained officer to listen to her claim; otherwise she will take it as the whole system is not a friend to her. Today, over 400 police stations across Tanzania have Police Gender and Children's Desks, including seven of Zanzibar's 20 police stations.

As on Law & Order SVU, these units deploy dedicated, specially trained detectives to handle "sexually-based offenses" like rape, sexual assault and domestic violence. In a nutshell the desk was first proposed by the Tanzanian Police Female Network (TPFNet), a professional association formed in 2007 that aims at improving the way the police relate to women in the community.

The initiative gained financial and operational support from UNICEF and the European Union, and by 2012, there was a network of 417 desks in police stations across the country.

Nearly half of Tanzanian women under the age of 50 (according to Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey and Malaria Indicator Survey 2015-2016 Final Report Statistics) they have been physically or sexually assaulted, with one-in-three girls under 18 experiencing sexual violence, and according to a 2015-2016 Ministry of Health survey of 13,376 households across the country.

In Zanzibar, the rates of sexual violence are increasing, according to data compiled by the Tanzania Media Women's Association (TAMWA), as are rates of child sexual abuse, according to research out of Zanzibar University.

But women and girls in Zanzibar who report these crimes to the police are often met with apathy, negligence, corruption, disdain, disbelief and even violence, according to interviews with lawyers, police officers, researchers, community activists, village leaders, counselors and staff of nongovernmental groups.

This desk is part of the Police force to serve women and children, who might not be aware of their rights, either because of ignorance or fear in the community.

This desk has a chain of communication and requires every police officer to understand what to do when he/she receives an issue on gender and children abuse by contacting other officials for instructions on what to do.

The desk provides victims with several services, which include PF3 access, Arrest of Defendants, Filing of Case, Collection of Articles and Evidence, Investigation and Visiting the scene as well as Sending File to a Lawyer and finally to Court.

It also caters for men, the elderly, businessmen, politicians, various leaders, youth, people living with disabilities, and children in conflict with the law in the sense of theft, smoking marijuana, drug abuse and misconduct.

Equally, it maintains confidentiality, goes for non-interference with adults when they are detained, and organizes safe custody of children as soon the breadwinners are brought to the police station. However, most community members when they hear of the Gender and Children's Desk, they automatically think that this desk only provides services for women and children that is not really the case.

The desk in details go further and concentrates on things such as child and family abandonment, rape, child abduction, expulsion, beatings, insults, incarceration, deprivation of food, school bans, and abuse to those living with disabilities.

In most cases, when the desk receives information of any abuse to children or women or any disadvantaged group, it acts very fast by either telephoning the accused or summon to the Police Station or right away visits the scene.

Because this desk is solely for the community, they should not be afraid to come to report any abuse and this can also be done by directly phoning to get assistance, instead of one taking the law into his/her own hands or committing suicide, chasing children and women into the streets as if that would solve the problem.

However, the community should take note that abandoning families and children will not solve the problem on the ground and the best way to solve a problem is to confront it by involving a neutral third party for amicable solution.

This school of thought should be the first way to address a problem in the society, because not all family differences should be rushed to a Police Station.

Equally, women should be encouraged to fully engage in economic and development activities, because as it is customary for a mother to be the closest caretaker and who embraces children (as a hen hides her babies in her wings, protects them and teaches them when the danger arises).

There are grassroots causes of abuse of women and children in the community, which can be addressed before the problem erupts. This should include counseling and educating young people to stop indulging in risky groups, because some of them find themselves there for lack of direction after parents are separated or living with one parent.

Politicians and various leaders should constantly preach and educate the public on what the society expects from a responsible citizen and dos and don'ts in the society. For instance, irresponsible sex has consequences and people should know that they result into babies being abandoned.

Cases of a woman going to her spouse and abandoning a baby in his business premise or office are things, as a society can be eliminated if good parenting is given to the youth instead of waiting to blame the victims.