STORY: Nura Ahmed: Victim of drought and rape

remembers her struggle on the International Day

of Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict
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DATELINE: 19/JUNE/2017, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

Nura Ahmed: Victim of drought and rape remembers her struggle on the
International Day of Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict

Mogadishu, 19 June 2017- When Nura Ahmed (not her real name)
abandoned her home in Wargedow, Lower Shabelle region, to escape the
drought, she did not envisage she would become a victim of rape. However,
everything changed one evening after the 33 year-old woman and her
neighbours decided to flee Wargedow in search of food and water.

Nura left for a village called Jambalul in the company of a group of women.
Hardly halfway into their journey, they were accosted by three armed men
who scattered the women in different directions. Nura was not lucky: the men
caught her, dragged her to a nearby thicket and raped her.

Though she does not remember the exact day on which the incident
happened, she recalls it happened last month under a full moon.

We had fled because of food and water. On our way to seek food and water,
it is when we encountered rape, Nura explains.

Weak and injured, the mother of four walked back to the main road to seek
help. Luckily a tractor driver offered her a lift to Jambalul, where Nuras sister
lives. Her sister took her to a facility operated by Haweenka Horseedka
Nabadda Iyo Nolosha (HINNA), a local non-governmental organization based
in Mogadishu that supports survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.

Owing to decades of war and fragile security and legal systems, Somalia is
still experiencing increased cases of sexual violence targeting women.
Widespread internal displacement in Somalia has also eroded social
protection networks. Many women have been displaced from their homes for
decades and find themselves marginalized and at risk of gender-based
violence. Women within internally displaced communities are particularly
vulnerable and often have limited access to justice, services and assistance,
including medical care and psycho-social support.
According to the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System
Consolidated Data Report for January December 2016, 7,324 new gender-
based violence incidents were reported in Somalia. Ninety-nine percent of the
survivors were female, while 74 percent were internally displaced persons
(IDPs) like Nura.

Sexual and gender-based violence is widespread since the legal and justice
system is weak. Also, the rapists are often unknown, and this presents
challenges in seeking legal redress. When drought hit the country and people
fled from hunger, armed gangs with no uniforms were intercepting people who
were fleeing, notes Fadwa Hassan Jimale, the protection officer at HINNA.

In the recent past, HINNA has been conducting training and public awareness
campaigns about its programmes in communities to educate residents about
the dangers of sexual and gender-based violence.

Ms. Jimale hopes the campaigns will encourage more victims to speak out
and seek medical and legal aid.

According to Noel Kututwa, a Women Protection Officer with the United

Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), the organization works
closely with civil society to ensure that victims of sexual violence get the
necessary support.

We work with civil society organizations to report cases, to build their

capacity to identify cases and to support survivors in various forms. It can be
psycho-social support, medical support, legal support and or provision of
economic assistance in situations where the survivors of sexual violence have
been ostracized from their families and cannot go back to their communities,
he stated.

In the meantime, Nura says she does not intend to go back to Wargedow but
will stay in Mogadishu until the countrys humanitarian crisis eases.