8 Mar 2012

SOMALIA / RAPE (IWD)

Violence, sexual abuse and violations of rights are a daily routine in the lives of many women in Hargeisa, Somalia. Handa is one of the thousands of Somali women who were sexually abused, but one of the very few who chose to report it. Today is International Women’s Day. OCHA

Posted at: March 8, 2012 5:50 pm

Duration: 02:42

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: SOMALIA / RAPE
TRT: 2.42
SOURCE: OCHA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: SOMALI / ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 6-7 MARCH 2012, SOMALILAND, NORTH WEST SOMALIA

1. Aerial shot, Hargeisa town
2. Wide shot, woman with goats and children 
3. Med shot, woman with goat and child
4. Wide shot, busy street crossing in Hargeisa
5. Med shot, Handa walking in the street
6. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Handa Hassan, 20 years old: 
"It was seven of them, it all started when one of them ran away with my phone, I ran after him but the other six followed me and beat me and abused me, the did bad things to me.
7. Med shot, Hargeisa Hospital sign board and Handa passing in front of it
8. Wide shot, Handa entering hospital
9.  SOUNDBITE (Somali) Handa Hassan, 20 years old:
"I felt so sad, ashamed and disappointed about what happened to me. I feel I cannot be with people anymore, I cannot fit in the society."
10. Med shot, Handa sitting in the hospital with other woman victim of violence before being called in to other room
11. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Handa Hassan, 20 years old:
"If the one who raped me informed people in the society that he raped me and did not get punished other people will try also to engage in rape." 
12. Wide shot, social worker Zuhur Mohamed walking with another one down a hallway 
13. Wide shot, Zuhur sitting with one of the woman victims in a counseling session
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Zuhur Mohamed, social worker: 
"I think it would be better if they had more years in the jail, maybe around 10 years or 15 years. That would be ok for them, so they won't do it again But one or two years are not going to help."
15. Med shot, Zuhur and a victim walking
16. Med shot, women sitting outside the hospital
17. Med shot, women waiting outside the hospital
18. Wide shot, girls sitting in a corridor of the hospital
19. Med shot, woman with goats

STORYLINE: 
	
In Hargeisa, the capital city of Somaliland, a self-proclaimed independent state, North West of Somalia, women do not have an easy life here.

Violence, sexual abuses and violations of rights are a daily routine in the lives of many of them.

Handa Hassan is 20 years old. She is one of the thousands of Somali women who were sexually abused when she was a teenager, but she is one of the very few who chose to report it.

Handa grew up with only her father and one evening, on her way back from the market, a group of men raped her.

SOUNDBITE (Somali) Handa Hassan, 20 years old: 
"It was seven of them, it all started when one of them ran away with my phone, I ran after him but the other six followed me and beat me and abused me, the did bad things to me.

In the conservative tradition of Somalia, the social stigma forces victims of sexual violence to hide. There is no place for these women in the society.

SOUNDBITE (Somali) Handa Hassan, 20 years old:
"I felt so sad, ashamed and disappointed about what happened to me. I feel I cannot be with people anymore, I cannot fit in the society."

The rapists offered 50 camels for her silence. Her father wanted to accept them, but Handa refused and was forced to move out of her father's home.

She wants to use her tragedy to protect other women from being raped.

SOUNDBITE (Somali) Handa Hassan, 20 years old:
"If the one who raped me informed people in the society that he raped me and did not get punished other people will try also to engage in rape."

Zuhur Mohamed is a 25-year-old counselor working for the UN-funded Sexual Assault Referral Centre, in Hargeisa's main hospital.

She has counseled hundreds of women like Handa and advocates for the justice system to punish perpetrators of violence more severely.

SOUNDBITE (English) Zuhur Mohamed, social worker: 
"I think it would be better if they had more years in the jail, maybe around 10 years or 15 years. That would be ok for them, so they won't do it again But one or two years are not going to help."

Because of the example of women like Zuhur and Handa, more women in Somaliland report rapes and more men are condemned to years of jail for perpetrating violence.

Handa hopes that the shame and suffering that she went through reporting her case will serve to save other women.