Oh My God, poor girl.

[Esmummy]

Sorry about the link from The Sun but have a look \link{http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006210374,00.html\here}

\link{http://www.un-instraw.org/revista/hypermail/alltickers/en/0454.html\ a link to an United Nations report on womens rights in somalia}

It states that while many people believe that rape is very rare in somalia it is more common, and is most often covered up due to the 'shame' that it would cause to the girl and her extended family.

Sorry, on futher study it isn't a UN documant but rather put out by,
'The Women's UN Report Program & Network (WUNRN) is a non-governmental organization to implement the conclusions and recommendations of a United Nations Study on Freedom of Religion of Belief and the Status of Women From the Viewpoint of Religion and Traditions (E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2). This study is a major, universal, comprehensive U.N. approach to intolerance and discrimination against women based on religion and traditions.'

Sorry for misleading

THis however is from a UN document fron 2003

'Issues of concern

528. Women suffered disproportionately in the civil war and in the strife that followed. Violence against women and girls, including rape, are common in Somalia, particularly in displaced persons’ camps and against women and girls of rival clans and those of minority groups.

529. There are also reports of rapes of Somali women and girls in refugee camps in Kenya. Somali bandits who crossed over the border and a small number of Kenyan security forces and police reportedly perpetrated the majority of the rapes. UNHCR documented more than 100 reported cases between February and August 2001 but estimates that the actual number is likely 10 times greater. The aid agency CARE estimated that approximately 40 women were raped every month in four refugee camps; other reports indicated that 10 per cent of Somali women in the camps have been raped. The rapes usually followed looting attacks by bandits and occurred when women and girls left the camps to herd goats or collect firewood or at night when bandits enter the refugee camps. The victims ranged in age from 4 to 50 years of age, and many of the rapes reportedly resulted in pregnancies during 2001.

530. Domestic violence against women exists, although there are no reliable statistics on its prevalence. According to information received, rape commonly is practiced in inter-clan conflicts.

531. Female genital mutilation is widespread. Estimates place the percentage of women who have undergone FGM at 98 per cent. The majority of women are subjected to infibulation, the most harmful form of FGM.

532. Women are subordinated systematically in the country's overwhelmingly patriarchal culture. Polygamy is permitted, but polyandry is not.

533. Trafficking in women for the purposes of sexual exploitation is also a problem.'

I would have linked to the article but it was very long at around 400 pages....the only relevant data on Somalia are those I have listed.

Sadly it would seem that some many somali women rape is not a rare thing at all

So who knows what may have happened to this poor child.

victims from the age of 4
Oh my God how horrific!

the only thing on there that rings true in my ears is the circumcision bit. the rape and violence seems out of proportion. then again, i haven't been in the south since '91 and there might have been a drastic (sp) change since. but re violence and rape reports i believe is mainly someone's ticket out of there. sounds crude and not trying to down play any real cases (as am sure there must be some vile crimes there, though wish there weren't) but the first actual 'case' of rape i heard was just a story to get asylum. was utterly shocked but they were indifferent to the impact this would have on the country as a whole and only cared about themselves and getting into (this) country.

mb, i just saw your latest post. i'm not gonna hide how sick i feel. i really feel physically sick. i am not surprised at any rapes in ethiopia or kenya but i'm wary of any attacks on somalis themselves, not because i'm one but because of there nature and culture. maybe i'm alluding to the north were i'm originally from and at 'peace' at the mo. but certainly (and i hope) it is not something condoned/practiced in the north. plz don't get something on there as well, especially from the net as i don't really trust some stats on it especially if compiled by somalis

my spelling seems to have gone to the dogs here

Fully accept that there can be sdistortions, fog of war and all that, but this is a UN report. For what it is worth it doesn't just cover Somalia but the whole world, whith thumbnait accounts of womens rights in all countries. I read the report on the UK and it read as very 'true'

Didn;'t want to upset you and sorry if I have

But it doesn seem that with the fragmentation of the society that , as you said, protected women, abuses have become more common.

a un report will hardily make me feel secure of the report, the opposite in fact

ninaar -I have no doubt that ordinary peacloving people want nothing to do with rape, let alone condone it. But i too have heard about women oppressed by politically / militarily motivated gangs...and have had some contact with a v young woman (young teenager) who was undergoing medical treatment as a result...she was an aasylum seeker, and i honestly don't think there was anything attentionn-seking or bogus. It is this sort of thing that i was trying to allude to discreetly earlier.
no-one thinks this is 'how Somalis are' - but rape has been used as a force of conflict in every single war or dispute, anywhere.

I don't thikn I can read through all this but so for this girl. A baby at 11??? wow.

How very sad. Poor girl.

Even though I totally disagree with the current traditional system, I wouldn't trust a UN report either. I think the interpretation of the reporting persons would depend on their paradigms. Since it's statutory rape in wetsern countries and 11 year olds are just babies, I'd be surprised if anyone would ever reported sex with the girls as anything other that rape.

I know of a major african tribe where girls are bethrothed 'in utero' and married off around the time of thier first periods. Even though the govt pays the families to send the girls to fee paying schools for free, they still got pulled out between 11 and 13 to get married. had loads in my class in early secondary school.

My mum used to be incharge of young girls with VVF. many 10 and 11 year old wives whose husbands had already deserted them.