Internally Displaced Women abused in Bosaso town, Puntland

[same]

The Silent War Raging On Somalia's Streets

The East African Standard (Nairobi)
NEWS June 11, 2006 Posted to the web June 12, 2006
By Jane Godia Nairobi

A woman and her daughter are walking back home from a beach in Somalia's Bosaso town after washing their clothes in the Red Sea when they come across a group of over 15 men. The men divide themselves into two groups, deciding one lot will rape the daughter and the other the mother.
After they are released, the traumatised women struggle back to their home in the nearby Internally Displaced People's (IDP) camp and narrate their ordeal to the elders who urge them to see a doctor. But they refuse do so, arguing that their ordeal was God's will.
On the other side of Bosaso, a woman is walking home from the market when she meets a gang of about 10 men. They rape her before cutting off her genitals with a knife. Sympathisers who take her to a nearby hospital rescue her.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, a pregnant woman goes into premature labo ur and loses her baby after being attacked by a gang of eight men who beat her up thoroughly before raping her.
Such is the miserable existence of many women, living in Internally Displaced Persons' camps in Bosaso town, Puntland, Somalia.
The roar of gun fire once again dominates the landscape after a lull but, all along, the women of Somalia have been engaged in a war of their own which if not stopped may claim thousands of lives.
Cases of rape and sexual assault in Internally Displaced Persons' camps are alarmingly high and things may not change unless laws are put in place to stop the men who are raping children, women and grandmothers.
Given that most of the rapists do not use condoms, even in the face of the HIV/Aids pandemic, the results of these heinous actions may be thousands of graves.
Of concern is that the IDP camps are not fenced and more often than not, the women do not have the support of their kin, who may have died in the conflict that has raged in Somalia since 1991.
With fresh conflict erupting in Mogadishu, more women and children will try to escape to Bosaso and other towns in Somalia's north, yet their security is not guaranteed.
The Member of Parliament for Bari region Ms Zeynab Ugas Yassin regrets that rape victims cannot defend themselves using the law, given that Somalia does not have working systems.
Social, economic and legal systems collapsed with the fall of Siad Barre and the ensuing civil war and recently elected Transition Government is yet to get a foothold.
Zeynab Ungas Yassin, MP Bari region of Puntland Somalia who together with other female MPs, is fighting for human rights.
But Yassin says the situation is unlikely to change soon because of the policies currently in place.
"The situation is tricky as the complainant must feed the accused and pay for their stay in the police station," she explained.
"So, if a suspected rapist is arrested, the woman accusing him must take care of him during the period he is in police custody.
"This is not an easy task and the victims get discouraged after a few days. If a woman fails to deliver food, the suspect is released," she explained.
"Women's movement is restricted. They are not free to walk at night. Insecurity is rife and they are even beaten in market places when they go to shop or sell commodities," says Yassin.
She, however, down plays the number of rape incidences, saying they are few and far between.
Abdikadir Mohammed, a programme officer with Samo Development Organisation, an NGO based in Galcaiyo, says when a case is reported to the police little can be done to help the victims as the law enforcers are poorly equipped and cannot provide security for the camps.
"There is no link between the police and the IDPs. The problem is compounded because police have not received salaries for more than one year and they argue that they cannot work on empty stomachs."
Mohammed explains: "There is no legal system in place. While culture forbids women to discuss sexual matters in the presence of men, there is not a single female lawyer in Somalia, and rape victims find it impossible to narrate their ordeal when they seek legal redress."
Lawyers' fees are high although an international NGO, Diakonia, holds legal clinics in Bosaso and it's main offices in Garowe, aimed at assisting those who cannot afford to hire counsel. But few women in the IDPs know their way to Diakonia.
There is also no link between the courts and police. The residents of Puntland access the courts directly and in a sense blocking justice. When one approaches the courts directly, they are given a letter warning the perpetrators and ordering that they be arrested. But the disconnect with the police still makes this an uphill task.
The United Nations Development Fund for Women has tried to intervene by offering, in partnership with several non-governmental organisations in Somalia, training to psychosocial counsellors to help traumatised sexual assault victims cope.
Human rights, especially and women's rights are rarely respected in this war-torn nation.
One of the families at the IDP Camp in Bosaso
"Women are not protected. There is need to change all this and particularly the institutions that have been put in place. The situation can only improve if the Government gives money to its departments including the police force to enable them to carry out public services freely and fairly," says Yassin.
She explains: "The situation will only change if a policy is put in place to address the problems facing women. Currently, the Government is concentrating on politics, leaving other areas hanging."
Together with other female MPs, Yassin has prepared a human rights report advocating for women's rights and seeking to change the role of women in the Somali society.
In a government of 30 ministers, there is only one female minister who holds the gender and family affairs docket.
Yassin wants to see more action from the Government. "The Government should not leave women's issues only to civil society," she asserts.
She insists that women must be equipped with entrepreneurial skills. "Somali women are poor. They may be doing business but they do not have the knowledge to run big businesses," the MP says.
She explains that women fear participating in governance at high levels and accept informal positions. The criteria for getting women to Parliament are that each region should have at least one female MP.
There are five regions but only four women MPs. This is because one region in Garowe refused to have a woman representative, arguing she could not articulate their needs. They therefore opted for a man.
Although the regions have been increased to eight, the number of women still remains four. Female MPs are now fighting to increase the number of women parliamentarians. Any time they meet other MPs, they articulate their grievances.
Of the four women MPs, one hardly attends parliamentary sessions as the area she represents in Galcayo is still embroiled in conflict and she is busy trying to resolve the issue. Another is unwell, leaving only two to participate in House business.
Yassin would like to see development for Somali women in terms of education, capacity building, and access to health and good governance.
The problem, according to the legislator, lies in the fact that while making up the Government, gender issues were not articulated. Instead the government concentrated on clanism.
"The criteria for making up the Government were clanism. The Government is working on tribal basis and this is a major obstacle to women's advancement," the MP said.
Given that men make up the bulk of the Somalia Cabinet, problems affecting women are not a priority.
"They are busy fighting among themselves on how to share resources. None of their discussions are about how women can be helped to lead more fruitful lives," Yassin laments.
As the international community tries to silence the guns in Somalia, more attention needs to be given to the silent war and its long-suffering braves.

[Intellectualsomali]

Same, this kind of issue is common in lawless somalia. Abuses targeting minorities (unarmed) and women is everywhere. Our people have lost basic rights, values and traditions that the somalis historically were empowered with. Unfortunately, there is no hope. Somalia and somalis are doomed to fail in every sense of the word. Have you witnessed how somalis are in the diaspora? Divorces, separation, out of wedlock children, drug abuse etc. How are we going to build a nation when every somali is determined to live a life of luxary? Even the intellectuals, the religious leaders and everyone you name are abusing what somalis stood for.

[PragmaticGal]

"So, if a suspected rapist is arrested, the woman accusing him must take care of him during the period he is in police custody."

That's very odd. I can see some hungry guy gabar kufsanaya so he can have shelter and a meal for the night! What are the chances he will be convicted?

[same]

True. The state of lawlessness and disorder made such abuses increase and not confined to Puntland.
However, there are bad ingredients in Somali culture, like “masaafaysi” – were a young man hijacks a girl to a distant place were he rapes her.
They usually do this to avoid paying a big amount of dowry to her father, or simply that they can not accept her refusal or the refusal of her father.
A raped girl is disgrace to her family. So the solution would be that he takes her cheaply,
He gets rewarded. Strange! Isn’t it?
In general rape is not seen as a big crime as it is in western societies.

[Basra-]

Are we supposed to care?? Tell this to Qansa or Dawladsade.

[Galol]

Same

This is indeed disturbing particularly because it happened in a place supposed to be of relative stability. Somalis had an abominable attitude to rape. In many parts of somalia that traditional law was that rapist should marry his victim. He was only in danger of he got caught by the girl's clansmen before the elders resolved the issue with marriage of victim to perp. If he was caught before that he alsmot always killed which often started clan wars which we then resolved with marraige!


Focking bleedin Bonobos Somali elders arent they? they solved everything with sex!

What can you do except joke because the alternative is to cry like a woman?

The only thing that could be done is that a record of the names of the perps are kept so that when Law and Order returns the perps are caught.

Is there any orgianisation that does that? Particularly crimes against minorities and the most vulnerable like IDPs?

[Intellectualsomali]

Same, MASAFEEYSI an sigh was not a bad thing ( I am not a cultural relatvist but masafeeysi was part of the somali culture). To the outsider or to the enlighted westerner, masafeeysi might be an abduction or rape- but good old masafeeysi ended in marriage. The somali masafeeysi in the early days before the arrival of the rapists had good intentions.

I hate to disagree but the masafeeysi in the early days had nothing to do with dowry. It had everything to do with love. Funny as that may seem, the masafeeysi people courted before marriage (uncommon in normal marriages). AND IT WAS ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN TO HAVE SEX BEFORE NIKAX.


The current thugs in somalia are using masafeeysi to commit crimes against women.