SOMALIA: Somali Women Refugees Need Greater Protection from Rape and Sexual Assault

Date: 
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Source: 
Women's Views on News
Countries: 
Africa
Eastern Africa
Somalia
PeaceWomen Consolidated Themes: 
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
Human Rights

Reporting for BBC News, Zeinab Bedawi gets rare access to UN displaced people's camps in the towns of Gaalkacyo and Boosaaso in northern Somalia.

They are home to 30,000 victims of one of Africa's longest conflicts.

The clip starts with a group of Somalian women vibrantly greeting the BBC news team at the UN camp.

It describes how the UN Refugee Agency tries to help women in the camps earn a living through a range of projects and shows women sewing sanitary kits which they then sell to the UN.

Despite the best efforts of the UN, however, women in the camps face the daily risk of rape and sexual assault. One woman, who was raped by six men on her way home from work in the settlement, shows the BBC crew how she was also stabbed twice in the leg. Most are too afraid to speak out.

Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, says there are lots of ‘things' that can be done (but doesn't say what exactly) and appeals for greater international solidarity.