Somali women and girls continue to be at high risk for gender-based violence (GBV), with more than 1,000 cases reported in Mogadishu during the first half of 2014, Somalia's RBC reported Sunday (October 26th).
According to the Somalia Gender Based Violence Working Group, a subsidiary of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the true number of GBV incidents is likely much higher due to a lack of reporting.
Survivors often choose not to inform security agencies, fearing reprisal by perpetrators and social stigma, the group said. Most reported incidents were rape followed by physical violence, with women and girls from displaced communities making up a majority of the survivors, it said.
Aid workers have been able to provide psychosocial support to 22,000 GBV survivors since the beginning of 2014, but prevention programmes and medical, psychosocial and legal response services remain under-resourced, the group said.
The Somali Ministry of Women and Human Rights held a training on gender-based violence in July, during which Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission in Somalia Lydia Wanyoto-Mutende said empowering women would contribute to the peace-building process in the country.
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