Somalia
Somalia: Women Lobby for Law Against FGM/C
![Women's groups in Puntland are lobbying to save girls from FGM/C. [Siegfried Modola/MSF]](/files/images/201105190705360819.thumbnail.jpg "Women's groups in Puntland are lobbying to save girls from FGM/C. [Siegfried Modola/MSF]")
GALKAYO, 3 November 2011 (IRIN) - Women's groups in the Somali town of Galkayo are lobbying the authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland to enact a law banning female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), saying the practice was becoming widespread. Activists say FGM/C causes serious health problems to the women and is against their religion.
"Unfortunately, we have noticed that instead of decreasing, the practice seems to be re-emerging, particularly in camps for the displaced,” said Lul Madar, head of the Mudug Women’s Development Network, one of the organizations pushing for the enactment of an anti-FGM/C law.
Somalia: UN Reports of Rape of Somali Women Fleeing Famine
11 August 2011 – The United Nations official leading the fight against sexual violence in times of conflict today voiced concern over reports that women and girls fleeing famine in Somalia were being raped or abducted and forced into marriage by bandits and other armed groups as they tried to reach refugee camps in Kenya.
“During the long and perilous journey from Somalia to the camps in Kenya, women and girls are subjected to attacks, including rape, by armed militants and bandits,” said Margot Wallström, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, in a statement.
Rape with impunity - plight of Somalia's women refugees
The three Somali women sat huddled together in a corner of an empty, dusty room in a camp for displaced people in northern Somalia, their faces etched with grief and resignation.
Somalia: Sexual and gender based violence on the increase
NAIROBI, 4 November 2010 (IRIN) - Armed groups in Somalia have continued recruiting children to fight and engage in piracy, and girls have found themselves facing increasing risk of sexual violence, a senior UN official says.
Somali Islamists Kill Two Girls Branded Spies
MOGADISHU, Somalia — ’s most powerful Islamist insurgents, the , executed two teenage girls on Wednesday after deciding they were spies, setting off fears among residents, officials and witnesses said.
SOMALIA: UN Independent Expert on Somalia calls for protection of civilians & accountability for human rights perpetrators
GENEVA (10 August 2010) – The UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, Shamsul Bari, today urged the international community to provide due attention to the protection of civilians in Somalia and ensure accountability for perpetrators of gross human rights and International Humanitarian law violations.
“I am deeply disturbed by the continuing endless reports of civilian casualties- many of them women and children- caused by ongoing fighting in South-Central region and in Mogadishu,” said Mr. Bari, who has just completed his fifth country visits to Kenya, Somalia and Uganda (26 July-6 August). “One Mogadishu hospital alone reported that it had treated 1,400 war-wounded persons in the first six months of the year.”
Indiscriminate Attacks Devastate Mogadishu
(New York) April 18, 2010 -- The Islamist armed group al-Shabaab is subjecting inhabitants of southern Somalia to killings, cruel punishments, and repressive social control, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Al-Shabaab, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), and African Union (AU) forces in the war-torn capital, Mogadishu, continue to conduct indiscriminate attacks, killing and wounding numerous civilians.
The 62-page report, "," finds that al-Shabaab forces have brought greater stability to many areas in southern Somalia, but at a high cost for the local population - especially women. Based on over 70 interviews with victims and witnesses, the report describes harsh punishments including amputations and floggings, which are meted out regularly and without due process.
Somali woman stoned for adultery
Somali woman stoned for adultery
