Somalia’s Sexual Violence Largely Ignored

By Ella -

11 October 2011

London (The Guardian) —While agencies bring food and medical aid to famine-hit Somalia, escalating sexual violence is treated as a low priority. This is in part due to the difficulty for large foreign-aid organizations to access the women in need, those living in al-Shabaab-controlled internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.

For sexual predators, famine and vulnerability equals opportunity. A recent United Nations assessment reported that cases of rape have quadrupled during the famine. If a victim of rape dares to complain, she is accused of promiscuity or “speaking against the brotherhood,” both crimes punishable by beheading or stoning.

Solutions outside the traditional big-aid model have proven to be effective. Grassroots Somali leader Fartun Adan opened Sister Somalia, a rape crisis center inside Mogadishu’s government-controlled safe zone. She has developed a malleable direct-aid structure informed by local context, catering to victims’ specific needs.

SOURCE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/11/rape-somalia-women-famine?newsfeed=true

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