WUNRN
MAURITANIA - RAPE VICTIMS SILENT,
FEAR BEING JAILED
By Mohamed
Yahya Abdel Wedoud, For CNN
December
22, 2010
Zeinebou
Mint Taleb Moussa has been fighting for women's
rights
in Mauritania for at least a decade.
STORY
HIGHLIGHTS
Nouakchott, Mauritania (CNN) -- Mahjouba was raped in March on the nighttime streets
of Mauritania's capital, but she will not bring charges against the man she
says did it since she may be the one who ends up in prison. The 25-year-old
says the legal advice she received was to not go to court, leaving her to
suffer in silence.
There is no law in Mauritania that defines
rape.
According to a local U.N.-funded group
working with the victims, the law criminalizes the women instead of their
rapists -- and society ostracizes the women.
Mahjouba, who asked not to use her real name,
said: "I am sure that if I raise my voice I'm going to be criminalized by
my society and I will pay the price harshly ... and as a result I may stay
single for the rest of my life."
She added: "I consulted a lawyer
secretly, and he advised me sincerely not to seek justice because that would
throw me in jail. I know what happened to other girls who decided to go to
court and face the community. Their lives were destroyed completely forever. So
I already know what would happen to me if I had to follow that path.
"This Islamic republic has no place for
rape victims like me."
Mauritanian laws are based on Sharia law and
the penal code forbids relationships between both sexes outside marriage. That
includes a consensual relationship between a boyfriend and girlfriend but can
also criminalize a woman who is forced to have sex.
Sidi Athman Ould Sidi Salem, a law specialist
and legal adviser to the government, said: "If raped women don't bring
strong evidence, which is not easy, they would be accused of Zina -- an Arabic
word meaning sex out of marriage -- and end up in jail. It's because the
victims of rape are always accused of a Zina which make a lot of
problems."
Sidi Athman added: "The rape issue has
been one of the many taboos that haven't been investigated (by the
government)."
UNFPA, which promotes health and equality
issues, is working with local groups and the government to define rape in law
and protect its victims.
Thierno Coulibaly, UNFPA assistant
representative in Mauritania for its reproductive health program and population
and development program, said he was not aware of any rape victim in the
capital currently in jail but could not comment on what was happening outside
the capital.
Even with legal protection, women victims of
rape still face a social stigma that is hard to overcome. He said: "Women
are still afraid to complain if they are victims of rape because there is an
attitude from the society."
Coulibaly added: "There is no law to
define rape but there will be one. And work is being done with police officers
and judges ... to let them understand the problem is not the woman, but the
perpetrator of the rape."
The U.N.-funded Mauritanian Association for
Maternal and Child Health (known by its French acronym AMSME) is at the
forefront of trying to change both the law and society.
When a woman reports a rape, police contact
AMSME and the woman is taken to the El Wafa center.
Zeinebou Mint Taleb Moussa, a former midwife
and president of the organization, set up the El Wafa center in 2001 to provide
help for rape victims.
Mint Taleb Moussa said: "There is no
mention of the words 'rape,' or 'sexual violence' in the Mauritanian laws which
left a growing number of women as victims ... All the words that are related to
sex are extremely taboo and can never be mentioned publicly."
Mint Taleb Moussa said there were 308 rape
cases registered by her organization in 2008 and 205 in 2009, but she noted
that "what has been reported is only the tip of the iceberg."
She said they mainly deal with cases in the
capital, Nouakchott, but there remain many unreported rapes in the city and the
country.
She said rape victims bring shame to their
families and the woman's reputation, and few women have the courage to report
the crime and be registered.
Mint Taleb Moussa added: "We focus
basically on the capital Nouakchott, but we think of covering the interior
regions as well."
Mint Taleb Moussa has tried in vain for a
decade to get her message into the national media to assist rape victims.
"I requested having a program in the
state mass media -- radio and TV -- but my request was turned down. Recently,
the national TV hosted me for the first time on a program, but it was censored
without giving any justification ... It's a big problem here to defend rape
victims," she said.
AMSME is also working with government and
religious leaders in a bid to get a new rape law.
Sidi Ould Beyade, spokesman for the Ministry
of Welfare, Children and Family, said the ministry has begun work on the issue
to help end the ordeal of rape victims.
"For the first time, the ministry is now
in touch with NGO activists, lawyers and opinion makers with the purpose of
studying the situation, first, and then trying to act."