WUNRN
SOMALIA - "HERE RAPE IS
NORMAL"
A FIVE-POINT PLAN TO CURTAIL SEXUAL
VIOLENCE IN SOMALIA
Direct Link to Full 80-Page 2014
Human Rights Watch Report:
SOMALI WOMEN SHOULDN'T LIVE IN FEAR
OF RAPE
February
13, 2014 - Nairobi – Somalia’s new cabinet should
urgently adopt meaningful reforms to confront rampant sexual violence, Human
Rights Watch said in a report released today. Over the past year, women and
girls endured high levels of rape and sexual abuse, including by government
soldiers, in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.
“Many women
and girls in Mogadishu live in constant fear of rape,” said Liesl
Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The Somali
government’s public commitments have not materialized into better protection
for women and support for victims.”
The 72-page report, “‘Here, Rape is Normal’: A Five-Point Plan to Curtail
Sexual Violence in Somalia,” provides a roadmap for the government and
its international donors to establish a comprehensive strategy to reduce rape,
provide survivors with immediate and urgent assistance, and develop a long-term
approach to end these abuses. The report focuses on improving prevention,
increasing access to emergency health services, ensuring justice, legal and
policy reform, and promoting women’s equality.
For the report, Human Rights Watch interviewed 27 women in Mogadishu who
survived rape, with some of them experiencing assaults by multiple perpetrators
on more than one occasion. All the cases took place since August 2012 when the
new Somali Federal Government took office.
The incidents occurred in the Benadir region, which includes Mogadishu, an area
primarily under government control and where resources have been invested to
improve security and rebuild government institutions, including the judiciary
and health services.
Armed assailants, including members of state security forces, have sexually
assaulted, raped, shot, and stabbed numerous women and girls. Women and girls
displaced by war and famine from their homes throughout the country are
particularly vulnerable to abuse both inside internally displaced persons camps
and as they walk to market, tend to their fields, or forage for firewood, Human
Rights Watch said.
Lack of justice for sexual violence remains the norm in Somalia, Human Rights
Watch said. Shamso (all names are pseudonyms for security), 34, who was
gang-raped in her makeshift home in a displaced persons camp, described to
Human Rights Watch the pervasive climate of impunity that fuels the abuse:
“They took turns. The men didn’t hurry because mostly women live in the camp
and are no threat to them. During the attack, one of them told me, ‘You can
tell anyone that we did this, we’re not scared.”
The United Nations (UN) reported nearly 800 cases of sexual and gender-based
violence in Mogadishu alone for the first six months of 2013, although the
actual number is likely much higher. Many victims will not report rape and
sexual assault because they lack confidence in the justice system, are unaware
of available health and justice services or cannot access them, and fear
reprisal and stigma. When Human Rights Watch asked one survivor why she did not
report being raped, she shrugged: “Rape is a frequent occurrence in Somalia.
Here, rape is normal.”
According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), about one-third of victims of
sexual violence in Somalia are children under 18 years of age.
While the government has pledged to “comprehensively” address sexual violence
“as a matter of priority,” these commitments have thus far brought about
little, if any, change. The new government needs to take urgent and concrete
steps to address the pervasive problem of rape, particularly among displaced
communities, Human Rights Watch said.
The government response
In early
February 2014, Human Rights Watch met with various government officials in
Mogadishu, including the new minister of women and human rights development and
members of the president’s policy unit, who reaffirmed the government’s
commitment to combatting sexual violence. In particular, the officials said
they would be revising the government’s draft national gender policy to include
specific provisions to address sexual and gender-based violence.
Human Rights Watch called on the Federal Government of Somalia to take serious
measures to prevent security force personnel and others from committing sexual
violence and to hold perpetrators accountable. As a top priority, the
government should take all necessary actions to ensure victims who report
sexual abuse do not face retaliation by government security forces and
intelligence services, as occurred in three high-profile cases in 2013.
“Somalia’s government faces daunting challenges given the scope of the abuse and
the extensive measures needed to address it,” Gerntholtz said. “So instead of
targeting victims who dare to speak out, the government should focus on
prosecuting perpetrators, including members of the security forces.”
Years of conflict have left Somali medical services and the justice system,
including police and the courts, profoundly ill-equipped to support and assist
victims of sexual violence, Human Rights Watch said. As a result, women and
young girls face what the UN’s independent expert on human rights in Somalia
refers to as “double victimization” – first the rape or sexual assault itself,
then failure of the authorities to provide effective justice or medical and
social support.
Maryam, a 37-year-old single mother who was gang-raped in her makeshift
shelter, was the only survivor Human Rights Watch interviewed who attempted to
file a police report. The police officers at the station humiliated her after
she bled from injuries sustained during the rape.
“Before they let me go, they told me I had to wash the floor where I was
bleeding,” she said. “I sat down, they gave me a brush and I cleaned the
floor.” She never returned to the police station to pursue the case or report a
second gang rape three months later.
Other women described the continuing economic impact that rapes have on their
lives and how the government and donor community could help. “The challenge for
women in Somalia is not just the violence,” said Sahra, who was stabbed and
raped in July while collecting firewood. “Now the manual labor that I did
before I was raped, I am not strong enough to do it anymore. We need more
programs that give us capital to start an alternative business.”
Human Rights Watch called on Somalia’s government to take a number of crucial
steps.
These include deploying a sufficient number of competent, trained police,
including female officers, to provide security for displaced communities;
ensuring that health and social services can provide adequate psychological,
social, economic, and medical support to women and girls recovering from
violence; and promoting gender equality through education, women’s political,
social, and economic equality, and women’s political participation.
The challenges that the government faces are enormous and will need the help of
the international community, Human Rights Watch said.
International donors have pressed the Federal Government of Somalia, including
through the Somali Compact endorsed in September, to give priority to women’s
rights. Donors have leverage and need to make it clear that supporting both
short and long-term measures to address sexual violence against women is
crucial for Somalia’s development.
“Donor countries should press Somalia’s government to ensure that the plight of
rape survivors is a priority of reform efforts,” Gerntholtz said. “And then the
donors need to step forward and help make those reforms happen.”
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