The COVID-19 pandemic affected the lives of the 10 million people around the world, and the COVID-19 pandemic impacted women, girls, and men indifferently. Gender-based violence increases during an emergency, where it be an economic crisis, earthquakes, droughts, conflicts, and disease outbreak. COVID-19 pandemic resulted in increases in gender inequalities, economic and convivial stress, and escorted with restricted kineticist and convivial distancing which have a lead increase in the caliber of GBV incidents in the country.
There is growing concern from the Convivial Stories and GBV reports that lockdown increase in rape and other forms of sexual violence as survivors remain in immediacy with perpetrators during the protracted period. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an incrementation of the report on GBV Cases both in the Rape and hostile practices of FGC in Somaliland. a 13-years old girl named Awo was raped in orphanage center in Hargeisa while police are still in an investigation, and other Horrific cases transpire on 1st July 2020, 22 years old man raped and murdered an underage girl named Shukri in Lughaya in the East of the Country while the murder is sentenced in death.
There is cultural silence around the cases of rape in the social perspectives and promoted violence against women, girls, and children. social narratives about the rape case have incremented for the last decades in Somaliland, it shows the demand of licit action against this horrifying act against women and girls, customary law wouldn’t become a licit action that brings for women and girl to have access to justices, but it seems this traditional system is promoting the rape cases and violence against women and girls due to lack of the penalization of the preparators and gainsaid the rights of the victims. The Islamic religion provides the highest rights for Muslim women, and forfended their dignity and tribute of Muslim families- at the Sametime, the Somali women are the backbone of the Somali communities, they play the greatest role in convivial development. However, the safety and security of the women and girls are decremented due to incrementing the rape cases and this has stressed the community.
On 29th July 2018, Somaliland House of Representative approved the Sexual offensive Bill (SOB) and President of Somaliland H.E Muse Biihi Abdi Singed the Bill into Act, and the bill becomes valid on 28th August 2018, however, the rape act is still pending to implement, and this has given opportunities to the perpetrators to perpetuate their wrongdoer acts against women and girls. The recorded cases during the COVID-19 pandemic show an incrementation of the caliber of reporting the rape cases in Somaliland; additionally, children become a component of the concerns as survivors of sexual violence in the schools, it withal possible to accomplish in the linkage of children been ravished after children being out of the schools due to the enforced government lockdown. To address this challenge, Somaliland GBV Coalition is calling the parliaments of Somaliland to pass the pending law, and the government should implement the Sexual Offensive Act to promote the safety of women and children and to eradicate and avert all incident of rape cases in Somaliland. “Implementing Sexual Offensive Act will preserve the lives of women and children in Somaliland will bring prosperity and cordial environment”.
Produced by: Somaliland GBV Coalition
