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Since the collapse of Siad Barre’s regime in 1991, a
highly chaotic armed conflict has plagued Somalia, with the result that the
civilian population currently lives in a state of humanitarian crisis that
has made Somalia one of the poorest countries in the world. Almost half of
the population in Somalia lives on less than US$1 per day, over a million
people are internally displaced and even more have been obliged to resettle
abroad.
Women suffer extremely high rates of gender-based
violence, including rape, female genital mutilation and forced marriage.
Due to the absence or weakness of state institutions, victims of
gender-based violence can count on very little effective support and have
almost no legal recourse. The cultural stigmatization surrounding rape also
prevents many women from reporting it to either formal judiciary structures
or traditional justice mechanisms. Within this context, Somali women have
mobilized to actively engage in the ongoing conflict-resolution and
peace-building processes and have assumed responsibility for meeting the
basic needs of society, such as health care and education, as well as their
participation in economic activities such as trade.
As a result of the humanitarian crisis, the
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that up to three
million Somali nationals are living abroad. The women of the Somali
Diaspora in various countries have played a crucial role in terms of input
and support for women’s participation in the peace process, which was also
acknowledged by a number of international observers. However, much still
needs to be done in order to encourage and support women’s participation as
voters and as candidates in the political elections that are currently
planned for November 2009.
UN-INSTRAW in collaboration with Italian-based Associazione Diaspora e Pace
(ADEP) and with financial support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, is implementing the project Gender and Peace in
Somalia-Implementation of Resolution 1325 with the following aims:
- Supporting the full
and sustainable implementation of United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in Somalia;
- Creating an enabling
environment for women’s equal participation in conflict-resolution,
peace-building and political processes; and
- Fostering ongoing
collaboration between women’s groups in Somalia and Somali women’s
groups from the Diaspora living in Italy.
For more information, download the full Project Profile.
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International Conference
on Women, Peace and Security in Somalia
From September 2nd to 6th 2008 in Dar-es–Salaam,
Tanzania, UN-INSTRAW and ADEP will co-organize a conference on Women, Peace
and Security in Somalia. The Conference aims to bring together
representatives of Somali women organizations with representatives of the
Somali Diaspora in Italy and other stakeholders in order to:
- Establish an open
and continuous dialogue among Somali women both from Somalia and the
Diaspora;
- Support the creation
of an enabling environment for women’s equal participation in
conflict-resolution, peace-building and political processes in Somalia
and among the Somali Diaspora;
- Outline a roadmap
for the development of a National Action Plan for the implementation
of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in Somalia, and define
strategies and mechanisms for its participatory negotiation and
implementation.
Further information
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Project Related
Conferences
As preparation for the International Conference to be
held in July 2008, UN-INSTRAW and ADEP co-organized two seminars with women
of the Somali Diaspora in Milan (Northern Italy) and Bari (Southern Italy).
These seminars aimed to bring women together in order to share information
about Resolution 1325 and its applicability to the case of Somalia, to
discuss how to support women’s participation in the ongoing
conflict-resolution and peace-building processes and to identify initial
recommendations for the International Conference:
- Milan Seminar – 23
to 24 February 2008
- Bari Seminar - 3 to
4 May 2009
Download
the Final Report
of the Seminars
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