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[溫哥華本地新聞] RCMP failed northern B.C. women: report
RCMP failed northern B.C. women: report
Human Rights Watch also alleges native girls and women were abused by police
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/RCMP+failed+northern+women+report/7957387/story.html#ixzz2Kn3GWn9s
The RCMP is failing to protect native women and girls in northern B.C., including along the infamous Highway of Tears where victims have disappeared or been murdered, says a new report.
The document, written by Human Rights Watch, also contains unproven allegations by some women and girls who say they were abused physically or sexually by police officers.
The report contains several recommendations for governments and police, including more safeguards to protect native women in the north and expanding the so-called Highway of Tears investigation.
"In ten towns across the north, Human Rights Watch documented RCMP violations of the rights of indigenous women and girls: young girls pepper-sprayed and Tasered; a 12-year-old girl attacked by a police dog; a 17-yearold punched repeatedly by an officer who had been called to help her; women strip-searched by male officers; and women injured due to excessive force used during arrest," the report says.
Human Rights Watch - an international organization dedicated to protecting human rights - says the allegations do not prove a "pattern of routine systematic abuse" by police, but are worrisome.
"While the testimonies that Human Rights Watch gathered do not establish the prevalence of abuse, they do, together with other studies, raise serious concerns about police practices, police
misconduct, and mistrust of police, all of which impact the safety of indigenous women and girls."
The RCMP did not respond Tuesday to an interview request.
The report is titled Those Who Take Us Away, a translation of the word for police in the Carrier language.
Human Rights Watch said it interviewed 42 native women and six girls in 10 towns along Highway 16 between Prince Rupert and Prince George, and as far south as Williams Lake on Highway 97. Researchers also spoke to 30 community outreach workers and victims' relatives, and seven former and current RCMP officers "through unofficial channels."
The report said it was "an important first step" for the RCMP to create its E-Pana task force, which is investigating 18 cases of girls and women who disappeared from or were murdered along Highways 16, 97 and 5 in Northern B.C. between 1969 and 2006. But it also noted some people estimate the number of unsolved cases along northern B.C. highways total more than 40.
A Vancouver Sun investigation in 2009 uncovered 13 other victims who went missing or were murdered near a major roadway in B.C. or Alberta, who appear to be similar to the 18 on the official list and, in some cases, had been linked in the past to the "highway murders" by previous probes.
One of the recommendations in the new report suggests "changing the criteria for cases to be investigated by the E-Pana task force to include a greater number of the murders and disappearances of women in the north."
The report raised concerns, as well, that there could be even more cases of missing native women and girls that were initially "mishandled" by allegedly biased officers.
Also documented were alleged police abuse of eight girls and women including:
. A 17-year-old girl said she was repeatedly punched in the face while in the back seat of a police car in 2011; the report says the officer has now been charged with criminal assault.
. A 15-year-old girl's arm was allegedly broken when an RCMP officer tried to put her in handcuffs in the spring of 2012. "He grabbed my arm and pushed me up against the wall. He pulled my arm way back and pushed it so I was up on my tip toes," the girl is quoted as saying. The incident is under review by an external police agency, the report says.
. An alleged attack by a police dog on a 12-year-old girl, who was hiding from police in a box when the canine attacked her in 2012. "The dog was on top of her and started to attack her leg ... The photos show punctures from the dog's teeth," the girl's mother told researchers. This case is also under investigation by an external police agency. The report also detailed disturbing allegations of sexual abuse by police against several women and girls in the northern communities.
In addition, the researchers collected 15 reports from women who alleged they were physically abused in jail cells or on the street by police, ranging from being roughly handled to "an outright beating," the document says.
The document noted women are often too intimidated to lodge a complaint against police, especially if they live in a small town.
Despite the work of E-Pana and the release in 2012 of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry report, there is still a need for a national commission of inquiry to examine "police handling of violence against indigenous women and girls," Human Rights Watch says.
Other recommendations in the report include:
. A national plan to address violence against native women and girls, and the structural roots of the violence;
. More shelters and social services for victims of violence, including in rural areas.
. Expanded training for police officers to counter racism and sexism in the treatment of indigenous women and girls.
. Implementing the recommendations of the 2006 Highway of Tears Symposium. |
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發表於 2013-2-13 06:39
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