WUNRN
http://www.swdcsom.org/idps-face-increasing-sexual-violence-in-mogadishu/
Somalia
– Internally Displaced Women in Mogadishu Face Increasing Sexual Violence
Internally displaced Somali women wait for
food at a camp in the capital Mogadishu – Photo: The Telegraph
By Abdifatah
Hassan Ali – Project Officer at Somali Women Development Center
June 2015 - In
2012, the Somali government released a statement ordering IDPs living inside
Mogadishu to move out of the city. At the time, the majority of IDPs were
living in government-owned buildings which have not been maintained since the
collapse of the government and the breakout of civil war in 1991. A minority
voluntarily evicted the area while many fell victim to forceful eviction, all
were not provided with alternative housing even though the government promised
resettlement plans but that promise still remains unfulfilled. Apart from that,
in most cases, the evictees are not provided with official written notice and
enough time to vacate the area and as a result their properties are destroyed.
The government forces sometimes use bulldozers and other equipment to demolish
houses and the shops of the people. The ministry of interior has drafted an IDP
eviction policy which has been approved at the ministerial level but not
ratified by the parliament, however, this policy has never been observed
whenever eviction is taking place.
As a result, IDP
women in Mogadishu have become increasingly vulnerable to sexual violence since
the recent unplanned and forced evictions which mostly targeted women and
children who represent the majority of IDPs. I’ve helped document 35 cases
during February and March for the Somali Women Development Centre (SWDC) as
opposed to an average of 3-7 cases per month beforehand.
The evictees are
currently without shelter and are seeking temporary shelter in the outskirt of
the city in makeshift tents and as a result, they are extremely vulnerable to
all types of violence as large families are now living in open lands or in
congested houses due to lack of resources to live separately. Sexual violence
remains one of the most pressing problems faced by the IDPs who live in
insecure areas controlled by armed militias. The rainy season has already
started and the evictees are once again suffering from the cold weather,
children and aged the most vulnerable at this time.
Rape Cases
Among the
cases documented, there were 14 cases of young girls between 6 to 16
years. One of them is 8 years old who was raped by her uncle who was supporting
her in the absence of her parents. The perpetrator is now detained in the
central prison; however, the family of the survivor is facing threats from
other family members who are close to the perpetrator.
The majority of
the survivors do not prefer to report their cases to police stations as they
don’t have confidence in the mechanism used by the police officers. For
example, survivors were complaining about the lack of female police officers at
police stations and their discomfort in discussing the incident with a male
investigator. Due to this, many prefer to report their cases to legal aid
providers instead. The culture of silence which is practiced in some areas of
the country is still a major obstacle for women and girls. As a result of
this, survivors are not comfortable reporting their cases due to fear from stigma,
in Somalia if a girl is raped or experience any other form of violence she
faces both stigmatization and discrimination from her own family and from the
neighborhood as well. As consequence of this fear, several victims remained
silent and developed STDs which will later be discovered.
Also, the law
enforcement and justice institutions have not taken serious actions in
prevention of sexual violence cases claiming that they don’t have the technical
and financial capacity to tackle this issue. However, according to the legal
aid providers in Somalia, there is massive corruption within the justice system
which sidelines cases of sexual gender based violence. Among the negative
practices in the system includes focusing only on civil cases (land dispute)
for financial interests rather than criminal cases which include rape cases.
The disregard of the criminal cases is attributed to two reasons: – i)
survivors have no money to pay in order their case to be prosecuted ii) lawyers
defending their cases are always from legal aid provider organizations who
usually do not charge fees against the survivors.
The Positive Story
The recently
appointed attorney-general Mr Ahmed Ali Dahir has shown some positive attitude
towards preventing GBV as he attended several workshops and forums organized by
SWDC, Mr Dahir also had various meetings with the civil society and discussed
with them the best practices of tackling this merciless violence against women
at the grassroot level. Early this year, he appointed 4 female prosecutors for
his office which marks the first time in Somali history of appointing females
for this position. He vowed that he will try his best to use his power for
perpetrators of such violence to be taken to court.
On the other hand,
the Somali government has yet to form the stipulated national human rights
commission; however, there is a parliamentary committee on human rights which
should be empowered to investigate such issues. A sexual offence bill has been
recently drafted although it has not been yet ratified by the parliament.
Whenever the
prevalence of this sexual violence is raised by the civil societies at national
level the government always argues that their first priority is security,
however, the security situation itself is not stable at the required level. Now
the holy month of Ramadan is coming and the opposition group has already warned
that they will carry out attacks, explosions and will execute planned
assassination.
SWDC has been
providing post-rape emergency assistance including basic contraceptive pills
and pep kits to the affected victims. The survivors were also provided with
psychosocial counseling and legal aid representation. Among the 35 cases
reported and documented, nine were taken to court and are now in process.
To All of Us
The campaign
against sexual gender based violence should be joint and all concerned parties
including civil societies, women MPs, women-led organizations and other
community-based organizations should play their respective roles in combating
the impunity. The government should be a big part of this campaign and should
come up with strong preventive strategies/approaches against this violence.
Humanitarian agencies should also play their role in responding to the crises
as a result of the unplanned evictions.