Resumen de Sexual Violence in Mogadishu:: ‘Ending Impunity is Far from Reality on the Ground’
Ifrah Ahmed, Patrick Mugo Mugo, Ahmed Ismail
More than twenty years of statelessness and related insecurity, including the proliferation of armed groups, the fragmentation of politics along clan-based lines, economic disruption and large scale population displacement, have had dire consequences on the rights and protection of women and young girls in Somalia; resulting in an increase in gendered patterns of violence as disillusioned and armed young men have been turning against women and girls with impunity.Implicated are Africa Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM)peacekeepers, government soldiers and some men within Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Mogadishu, with allegations that tantamount to protector turning to perpetrator and exploiter. Despite all this, perpetrators and exploiters are rarely ‘formally’ prosecuted due to judicial and police force institutional incapacity and in other cases, the lack of recognition of the crimes themselves. Beyond stigma and shame that confine survivors to a ‘culture of silence’ there is also the fear of reprisal in cases where the perpetrator(s) is known to the survivor(s) making it difficult to find survivors and witnesses willing to come forward to testify talk less of seeking prosecution. In other cases, survivors are not able to differentiate who is who among the perpetrators in uniform, either from the military, police, or armed militias. Sexual abuse in armed conflict has a long history and has always been considered faultily, as normal wartime behaviour particularly in Somalia; with perpetrators acting with unreserved impunity. This behaviour is now becoming a growing concern. Critical to peace, stability and reconciliation is the question of protection of human rights of the most vulnerable and where such has been violated, then justice, protection and prevention must be administered by those shouldering responsibility.
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