I’ve decided to narrow my blog posts to focus on sexual violence against Somali refugee women and girls in internally displaced person (IDP) and refugee camps. To recap about the current situation in Somalia, successive droughts and a famine starting in July 2011 exacerbated violence that has already been occurring in that country for the past 20 years. The drought has left nearly four million people without food security, and many are leaving their homes for refugee camps. Women and children are often traveling alone as the men have been forced into Shabaab militant groups, and sexual violence against women is widespread and escalating.
For an idea of what the IDP camps in Mogadishu are like:
Even in refugee and IDP camps – which might sound like they should be safe, large numbers of women and girls are facing rape and sexual violence. As an example I found cited in several articles, in one camp, a woman returned home from getting food to find her 11 year old daughter being raped by a Shabaab gunman. When she attempted to pull the man off her child, he beat her and dragged her through the town to the outskirts of the city while her neighbors just watched, where he tortured her by burning her with hot plastic. Total impunity.
Searching (and hoping) for a positive intervention, I Google-searched “how to stop violence against women in Dadaab refugee camp” which gave me these alarming headlines:
“Violence against women doubles in giant East Africa Refugee camp”
“The pain and suffering for women and girls in Dadaab Refugee…”
“Somalia Report: Sexual Violence Against Women Refugees Alarming”
“Somali women fleeing from war and famine, raped and sold in the…”
All are recent articles. This is clearly a large problem that is gaining some attention, but according to an article in The Guardian in October, rape is de-prioritized because it is considered a psycho-social issue. Also, many of the IDP camps are controlled by al-Shabaab, who operate and commit rape with impunity. If a woman complains, she could be beheaded or stoned.
In light of all of this, Sister Somalia, a local aid group run by Somali human rights activist Fartun Abdisalaan Adan (whose husband was killed in 1996 for his human rights work) is trying to make an impact, with support from Prism Partnerships and A Thousand Sisters, British and U.S.-based groups. It’s important to note however that this is an intervention from within — Sister Somalia is housed by the Elman Peace and Human Rights Center also run by Fartun Adan. Sister Somalia offers group counseling and a sexual violence hotline, and are hoping to offer medical services and business starter kits to empower women. Further, they also are able to relocate women to safer places. Here is an excellent article on the hope Sister Somalia provides: http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/in-mogadishu-a-lifeline-for-somali-rape-victims/ What these women are doing is utterly amazing, considering their lives are at risk every day by running this vital support system.
Anyone interested can send a letter to the women supported by Sister Somalia — the address is on their website.
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/in-mogadishu-a-lifeline-for-somali-rape-victims/
http://www.refintl.org/where-we-work/africa/somalia
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/11/rape-somalia-women-famine
7 Comments
This is definitely one of the worst situations any woman could ever be in. I cannot even imagine the horror and anger one must feel to witness one’s daughter being raped without any hope of prosecution or punishment. I am not too knowledgeable on Somalia’s political status, but is there an opposing party to the al-Shabaab (particularly one supporting democracy)? Is al-Shabaab an actual political party in charge or did it overthrow the previous government in a military coup? Also, how have foreign governments responded to the violence and political instability in Somalia? This is an important issue and I look forward to reading your next blog post.
This blog post really left me speechless. It was very eye-opening and appreciated the websites, leading me to read more about these women in Somalia. I visited the SisterSomalia site and read the piece called “One Woman’s Story,” which was so horrifying. The NY times article also wrote that “no one goes to Somalia,” but these women need people to hear their story and help them. The stories of these women need to be shared if there is going to be hope and change. Your blog really was eye-opening and very informative.
This blog post really left me speechless. It was very eye-opening and appreciated the websites, leading me to read more about these women in Somalia. I visited the SisterSomalia site and read the piece called “One Woman’s Story,” which was so horrifying. The NY times article also wrote that “no one goes to Somalia,” but these women need people to hear their story and help them. The stories of these women need to be shared if there is going to be hope and change. Your blog really was eye-opening and very informative.
“This is clearly a large problem that is gaining some attention, but according to an article in The Guardian in October, rape is de-prioritized because it is considered a psycho-social issue.” – Maybe I am unaware of the whole situation, but I can’t imagine why the suffering of these women are de-prioritized. It is also far more than a psycho-social issue as it affects the physical, mental, and emotional health of these women. I do wonder what else people are trying to do to help these women and what has changed since October.
Wow. I had never heard anything on this topic before and I was very alarmed by the statistics you posted here. I know that there tends to be higher rates of violence in refugee camps in general but I would have assumed that these would be safer since they were largely made up of women and children. I think that this should definitely be a priority but given who controls the government I can see how this may not be taken as seriously. This goes back to the drastic effects that political turmoil and instability have on citizens and their health. Just sad.
The effect of civil war in women’s lives is not a hugely discussed topic. I’m so glad you decided to focus on it. Do you think there is anyway to provide security for these women? Are the military forces humanizable? Should the US bring down the militaristic regime because of these ridiculous violations of human rights? I’m really surprised that I haven’t heard more about this issue, and I’m wondering why. Is Somalia considered a hopeless case right now?
I am not sure why this famine and violence has received so little attention — today there was just an article on cnn (http://articles.cnn.com/2012-02-11/africa/world_africa_somalia-50-cent-visit_1_rap-star-famine-hit-famine-conditions?_s=PM:AFRICA) that 50 Cent just visited Somalia and Kenya, so perhaps more media attention is to follow?
And Tracy, as far as I can tell, al-Shabaab is not a political party but a militant group that is (I think) partnered with al-Qaeda. Somalia has not had a real national government since 1991…currently they have something called the Transitional Federal Government, but I’m really not sure how much power they actually have.
Also, Somalia is apparently considered a “classic example” of a failed state, in political science lingo. I’m not sure how foreign governments are responding but I do know that NGOs are having a hard time remaining in/getting access to the country.
Also, Somalia is a country with deep cultural oppression of women. The maternal mortality rate is 1,200 deaths per 100,000 live births (!!) and the infant mortality rate is 105 deaths per 1,000 live births! Also, female literacy rate is only at 25%, and the fertility rate is 6.35 births per woman, which is number 4 in the world. (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/so.html) The life expectancy for men and women combined is only 50.4 years.
And Rachel, I definitely agree with you that the effects of rape are not only psycho-social but extensive and that more needs to be done to respond to/prevent their suffering. I’m not exactly sure why this is the case but I suppose giving people access to food and water are their priorities.