Sexual violence is pervasive in much of Somalia. Two decades of civil conflict and state collapse have created a large population of displaced persons and other people vulnerable to sexual violence. At the same time it has destroyed the state institutions that are supposed to protect those most at risk. Armed assailants, including members of state security forces, operating with complete impunity, sexually assault, rape, beat, shoot, and stab women and girls inside camps for the displaced and as they walk to market, tend to their fields, or forage for firewood. Members of Somalia’s long marginalized minority communities are particularly at risk.
The United Nations reported nearly 800 cases of sexual and gender-based violence in Mogadishu alone for the first six months of 2013. 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 should they report rape. According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), about one-third of victims of sexual violence in Somalia are children.
After two decades of state collapse and armed conflict, Somali medical services and the justice system, including police and the courts, are profoundly ill-equipped to support and assist victims of sexual violence. 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.
The Federal Government of Somalia, which was inaugurated in August 2012, but which is highly dependent on international assistance and on the military support of an African Union peacekeeping mission, AMISOM, and only controls a small part of the country in around the capital Mogadishu, has acknowledged the extent of the problem of sexual violence. In May 2013, the government signed a joint communiqué with the UN’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict pledging to address the issue “in a comprehensive manner and as a matter of priority.” However, it has yet to prove itself able and willing to take serious measures to prevent security force personnel and others from committing sexual violence or to hold perpetrators accountable.
In this report, Human Rights Watch documents women’s experiences of sexual violence since the 2012 inauguration of the new Federal Government of Somalia. The report covers women’s experiences in Mogadishu and the surrounding Benadir district, areas where the government has some control and where the government and international agencies are investing significant resources in improving security and rebuilding government institutions, including the judiciary and health services.
While President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud came to power promising to prioritize security and justice, in reality little has been done to address the problem of rape and sexual assault of women and girls, particularly among the vulnerable displaced communities.
The report provides a five-point roadmap intended to assist the government, donor countries, and other entities to put in place a comprehensive national strategy to reduce sexual violence, provide survivors with immediate and urgent assistance, and develop a long-term approach to end these abuses.
Physical prevention. First, Somali authorities and security forces should take all necessary measures to protect women’s security, particularly at IDP camps throughout Mogadishu and surrounding areas where they face a significant risk of rape. The government should ensure that it deploys a sufficient number of competent, trained police, including female officers, to provide security for these displaced communities. It should issue clear public orders to the military and police that the government will enforce a “zero tolerance” policy with regard to sexual violence. The government should also support adequate resources for independent shelters and safe spaces for women and girls at risk of violence.
Emergency health services. Second, authorities should adopt measures to provide comprehensive and integrated services, including an emergency health response service, to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, including those in IDP camps. The government should ensure that health and social services provide adequate physical, psychological, social, economic, and medical support to women and girls recovering from violence. Healthcare and social service providers should receive specialized training to provide care, treatment, and support to adult and child survivors of sexual violence.
Access to justice. Third, the authorities should ensure that survivors of sexual violence have meaningful redress by creating a justice system that meets international standards. Justice sector reform will need to effectively address and respond to violence against women and take into consideration the barriers that women and girls face in accessing justice, including stigma, victimization, cost, and geographical inaccessibility. Police should be given appropriate training in responding to and investigating crimes of sexual violence. As a priority, the government should take all necessary actions to ensure that there is no retaliation against victims who allege sexual abuse, as occurred in three high-profile cases in 2013. The authorities should promptly and impartially investigate allegations of sexually violence and appropriately prosecute those responsible, including members of the security forces.
Legal and policy reform. Fourth, the government should enact and enforce laws and regulations prohibiting all forms of violence against women; mandating prevention, and protection; establishing care, treatment, and support for survivors; and providing adequate punishment of convicted perpetrators. The authorities should review existing laws and policies, particularly in the penal code and the draft national gender policy, to identify and eliminate gaps in the protection of women against acts of gender-based violence.
Promotion of women’s equality. Fifth, as part of the Federal Government of Somalia’s commitment to combatting violence against women, it should promote gender equality through education, women’s political, social, and economic equality, and women’s political participation.
International human rights law obligates Somalia’s fragile government to respect the rights to bodily integrity, liberty, and security of the person, and to be free from discrimination, which includes taking appropriate measures to eliminate sexual and gender-based violence. The Federal Government of Somalia should take all feasible steps to uphold these rights by investigating and appropriately prosecuting private actors and government agents who infringe upon them. Ending the impunity that fosters future abuses will require leadership from the highest levels of the government. Failure to properly address these issues will consign more Somali women and girls to preventable sexual violence and trauma and will do nothing to bolster popular domestic support among Somalis for a weak government which remains highly dependent on foreign military and financial backing.
International donors have pressed the Federal Government of Somalia, including through the Somali Compact endorsed in September 2013, to give priority to women’s rights. Donors should make it clear that supporting both short and long-term measures to address sexual violence against women is
