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Gender Profile of the Conflict in SOMALIA
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Posted on December 23, 2009 at 06:05:06 PM by mb

Gender Profile of the Conflict in SOMALIA

“Women’s status in Somalia should be the barometer of peace and security in the country.”

Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director, UNIFEM

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United Nations Development Fund for Women, 304 East 45t h Street New York, NY10017 Tel: 212 906 6400 Fax: 212 906 6705
WomenWarPeace.org

Somalia has been without a central government since its last president, dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, fled the country in 1991. Subsequent fighting among rival faction and clan leaders resulted in the killing, rape dislocation, and starvation of thousands of persons and led the United Nations to send peacekeepers in 1992, who remained until 1995.

Despite factional fighting, famine and general chaos in their country, Somali women achieved a great success at the Arta Conference in 2000 when women were allowed to represent themselves as a "sixth clan" at the negotiations, joining four major clans and a coalition of smaller ones. Two years later, UNIFEM helped women delegates prepare for the IGAD sponsored Somalia National Reconciliation Conference in Nairobi, which are ongoing. However, these achievements in the political sphere underscore the need to improve the basic well-being of Somali women who continue to face continuous "complex emergencies", pervasive violence and harmful traditional practices so women can continue to participate in the stabilization and reconstruction of Somalia at all levels.

In June 2003, the Secretary-General reported that, "in accordance with Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) of 31 October 2000, the United Nations has continued to support the mainstreaming of a gender perspective and women’s human rights issues at the Conference and has provided a gender expert to work with the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) mediation team. The establishment of a women’s resource centre for information, dialogue and negotiation has provided women delegates with the much-needed practical support to enhance their efforts. Somali women delegates developed and compiled a lobbying document on gender issues for discussion at the Conference. The key issues raised include affirmative action, special measures on women’s representation, women’s access to and control over resources, and the impact of war on women and girls."

* Under Barre’s regime, which lasted from 1969 to 1991, women became colonels, ambassadors and judges. Women's visibility in the public sphere lessened when the Barre regime was ousted, according to a 1995 Bridge Development Report.

* The consistent state of "complex emergency" in Somalia due to war and famine have made efforts at long-term development or women's empowerment difficult, according to UNICEF. Violence, food insecurity and other threats have rendered women vulnerable to political and economic insecurity.

* The conflict has also led to decreased mobility for Somali women due to the threat and fear of rape. 4 Africa News reported in 2003 that militias and other gunmen raped women and girls of opposing clans and other vulnerable groups, particularly internally displaced people and the severally underprivileged Somali minorities such as Bantu, Midgan, Tumal, Yibir, Bravanese and also wealthier Benadiri community.

* Afrol News Service claims that according to the tradition of blood compensation -- otherwise known as dayeh, those found guilty in the death of a woman must pay only half as much to the aggrieved family as they would if the victim were a man.

* In the absence of a central government, governance in Somalia has increasingly been characterized by Shariah and customary law, which mandates death by stoning for adultery, according to UN IRIN News. 7 Shariah courts traditionally ruled in cases of civil and family law, but extended their jurisdiction to criminal proceedings in some regions beginning in 1994.

* Traditionally, women cannot represent clans and are not even considered clan members, which limits their participation in political discussions. However, this neutrality has afforded women greater opportunities to engage in cross-clan coalition building. For example, at the Arta Conference, women from different clans came together to form the sixth clan so women could participate formally in the peace negotiations as reported by UN IRIN News.

* Peace and reconciliation conferences in “Somaliland” have remained male-dominated. 10 However, at the Arta Conference, which established the Transitional National Government (TNG), women were recognized as the "sixth clan" and given space to participate in the negotiations. Fifty female leaders were trained to participate in the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) peace processes, which began in October 2002. Although women originally demanded twenty-five percent representation in the transitional authority, they were granted only a twelve percent quota.

* Women successfully lobbied at the IGAD Somali Reconciliation Conference, which has been attended by Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan and Djibouti. However, only 35 out of 362 delegates are women.

* According to the Secretary-General in a 10 June 2003 report on the Situation in Somalia, "A rapid assessment of women’s access to justice in Somalia revealed that women are generally disadvantaged under all the three systems of law in Somalia, namely, civil, customary and Shariah. Each of them offers some measure of protection, but all remain inadequate and contradictory to an extent, leaving women vulnerable and insufficiently protected. Furthermore, the justice systems have an almost negligible number of women in service. It is imperative, therefore, to put in place interventions that support the recruitment and involvement of women in the justice system".

* Women are increasingly being targeted for clan-related reprisals and attacks. As clans and warlords dominate public space, women have increasingly become pawns in their fighting, resulting in heightened physical insecurity. In December 2003, ten women were murdered in clan-related attacks. Maxwell Gaylard, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Somalia, condemned these murders and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

* In his 8 October 2004 report to the Security Council on the Situation in Somalia, the Secretary-General reported that the Transitional Federal Parliament did not meet the requisite 12 per cent quota for women. Only 23 out of the total 275 seats were filled by women, whereas 33 should have been occupied by women in accordance with the transitional federal charter. Women in Somalia responded by issuing a series of press statements and holding meetings with various transitional authorities to demand a greater role in the new government.

* According to the Report of the Secretary-General submitted to the Security Council on 16 June 2005, the UN has undertaken the construction of the Armo police academy in Puntland, which will have the capacity to train 300 cadets, including 60 women.

Humanitarian Impact

* According to the June 2003 report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council, approximately 400,000 Somalis are refugees in neighbouring countries, while up to 370,000 others are internally displaced. Internally displaced people (IDPs) have absolutely no basic services such as water, health facilities or schools, and are often charged rent.

* Independent United Nations Expert, Chris Alnajjar, reported mission findings of 370,000 internally displaced persons living in Somali camps, most of whom live in conditions of extreme poverty under the iron rule of armed faction leaders. For example, in Puntland, there are 15,000 IDPs in Bossaso whom local authorities would like to transfer elsewhere, which risk posing security problems and trouble with access to work for these people. 16 As women make up a larger proportion of the displaced population than do men, the problems and difficulties facing IDPs have a disparate impact on women.

* Human Rights Watch reported widespread rape of Somali refugees in Kenyan camps, in a November 2002 report entitled "Living in Plain View."

* Due to the already weak infrastructure of Somalia deteriorating further due to the conflict, the health of Somalis has deteriorated. Somalia has one of the highest maternal mortality and morbidity rates in the world, exacerbated by rates of Female Genital Mutilation rates of up to 98 percent, according to UNICEF.

* Infibulation, the most harmful form of FGM, is practiced widely in Somalia. The practice was illegal in 1991, when the Siad Barre government collapsed, and in Somaliland it remains illegal under the Penal Code; however, the law is not enforced. While UN agencies and NGO's have made intensive efforts to educate persons about the danger of FGM, Afrol News Service reports that no reliable statistics are available on their success.

* The Secretary-General reported in June 2003 that the reintegration and resettlement of refugees and water and sanitation programmes of individual agencies are central to providing essential services to vulnerable communities. It is estimated that approximately 34,000 refugees from Djibouti and Ethiopia repatriated to Somalia in 2003. The repatriation began in May and placed additional burdens on existing basic social services, especially in the north-east and north-west.

* Somali women have continued to struggle with chronic food insecurity, poverty, disease, drought and severely limited educational and employment opportunities. Somalia’s is not even ranked on the human development index.

* Women are central the collection of water and other elements of family sustenance in Somalia. Two good rainy seasons in 2002 have benefited rain-fed agriculture in the south of the country and improved conditions for livestock. As a result, overall cereal production reached a post-war high in March 2003, with an average 80 per cent increase nationwide according to the Secretary-General. These developments have generally reduced acute food security problems, with some exceptions in the north-west, where drought conditions prevail, and in areas of the south, where conflict and lack of access are affecting the ability of some farmers to harvest their crops. The abundant rainfall has also reduced the incidence of cholera considerably.

Human Rights Violations, including Violence Against Women

* Key human rights problems remain for Somali women due to the lack of political rights in the absence of a central authority; some disappearances; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary detention; the judicial system's reliance in most regions on some combination of traditional and customary justice, Shariah law, and the pre-1991 Penal Code; infringement on citizens' privacy rights; some limits on the freedoms of assembly, association, and religion; restrictions on freedom of movement; discrimination against women; and the abuse of women and children, including the nearly universal practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). Abuse and discrimination against ethnic minorities in the various clan regions continued. There is no effective system for the protection of worker rights, and there are isolated areas where minority group members are forced to labor for local gunmen, according to a 1999 report on Human Rights in Somalia Commission by the US State Department.

* Women are subordinated systematically in the country's overwhelmingly patriarchal culture. Polygyny is permitted, but polyandry is not. Under laws issued by the former government, female children could inherit property, but only half the amount to which their brothers were entitled. Similarly, according to the tradition of blood compensation, those found guilty in the death of a woman must pay only half as much to the aggrieved family as they would if the victim were a man, according to a 1995 report issued by BRIDGE.

* The UN Human Rights Commission Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women reported that rape and sexualized violence were widespread in Somalia. Aggressors attack women from rival clans and ethnic minorities. Such occurrences are even more prevalent in displaced persons camps.

* Africa News reported that militias and other gunmen rape women and girls of opposing clans and other vulnerable groups, particularly internally displaced people and the severally underprivileged Somali minorities such as Bantu, Midgan, Tumal, Yibir, Bravanese and also wealthier Benadiri community.

* Towards the end of 2002, women continued to be singled out for cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment for adultery, in circumstances where men involved remained unpunished.

* The port of Bossaso in Somalia has become a key site for a massive people smuggling operation. Somali migrants say they have no alternative but to flee the hopelessness and insecurity at home with the help of the smugglers. Oftentimes the treacherous boat ride to Yemeni ends in tragedy when the smugglers, fearing being caught by Yemeni coastguards, abandon their passengers far from the shore. Those who can't swim, especially women and children, often meet their death this way.




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