Young Girls Assaulted by people they Trust most

In Somalia women or even small girls are not able talk about sexual assaults because of the stigma associated with it. once a girl is assaulted, she is devalued instead of being supported by the Government and the society. Rape among young girls is rampant and parents of this children hide the occurrence because of shame because these girls should be virgin at the age of marriage and if news of their rape spreads no one will marry them in future, very unfortunate situation.

There have been recent cases where Religious Teachers have raped girls as young as 8 and 10 years old and unfortunately the 10 years died because of the injurie sustained from the rape. There has been less support for the affected families because they were poor families live rural areas.

 

I wish no stigma and shame was associated with this deadly situation as the girl child is disapproved on something that is not her fault and real sense, she is the victim. There have been many cases where several men rape one girl and few are punished for this.

There are many cases where girls below the ages of 10 years have been raped by their Biological fathers, uncles and their step-dads. All these cases are hidden in order to preserve family honor, which is so wrong.

The young girls are assaulted by people they had trusted most, their own teachers and people from their own house hold and that doesn’t mean they are safe on the street.

It is time for the Somali government and non-profit organisations supporting Somalia to develop a big focus on issues related to assaults of Women and Girls because the culture and the society ignore these issues and the victims are stigmatized.

 

This is article is by Habiba

Kindly leave comments and contributions in my email below

Habiba.ali49@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Justified Pedophilia in Somalia

 

In Somalia girls as young as 13 are married off by their parents .This is because there are  no laws that forbid  this act  and save these young angels .The very parent they trusted marry them off because  either they see them as financial burden or source of income in terms of dowry .They are sold as low as 100$ ,this would have been perceived so disgusting and vile in western world but a country where are women rights don’t exist such bad traditions are justified by culture.

 There is an Somali proverb that says a woman should either be in her house(married) or be in a  Grave(dead)…that is so demeaning , meaning a Woman is seen as  a cause of  shame because it is believed if  she is not married early she might get pregnant out of wedlock and hence spoil the honor of the family. Like this Saying most Proverbs about women in my culture are by men and mostly demean women.

 These marriages are so heart-braking because most of these girls are married against their wish and most of them get divorced before they are even 20 years or the husband marries more wives while she young mother, it is so unfortunate.

Once these girls are divorced with or without kids they are perceived to second-hand or not good enough because they are not virgins anymore hence, they develop low self-esteem. They can’t go school because of the stigma associated with being a divorcee and do not have skills to improve their lives and so end up living in a dilapidated situations.

 My hope is to create as so much awareness about this issue and use whatever medium I can get to pass my message to everyone in the world and see how these bad traditions can be abolished in my society and my country, although it might take a long time.

 

By Habiba Ali