33 Countries of Origin’ Profiles

6 SOMALIA Women have very little access to health care; this is reflected in Somalia’s maternal mortality rates, which are the highest worldwide. Women’s participation in the civic and political life of the country is very limited 18 . Since 1991, the use of Sharia and customary law have resulted in women ’ s discrimination in judicial proceedings. Although Sharia does provide rights for women, it is administered by men only and is thus often misapplied 19 . GBV: Somalia has extremely high rates of maternal mortality, rape, female genital mutilation and child marriage. Violence against women is common and deeply ingrained in society. Traditional or customary law is applied more often of official law, and shame attached to sexual or gender-based violence often prevents victims from coming forward, and crimes to be punished 20 . In 2016 the UNFPA reported that 99 % of survivors of gender-based violence were female, and 76% were IDPs (internally displaced people). Physical assault, rape, sexual assault, denial of access to resources and services, psychological abuse and forced marriage were the most common types of violence identified 21 . In 2016 and 2017, fighting between Somali Federal Government (SFG) forces, African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeepers and Al-Shabaab has continued in central and southern Somalia. Al-Shabaab has continued to torture, threaten, abduct and kill civilians, as well as recruit child soldiers . Rape and sexual violence are still widespread 22 . Survivors are frequently forced to marry their rapist, and women who become pregnant after being raped are often repudiated by their families . Most women do not report to the police due to the fees required to open a case file; moreover, the police and the army are often perpetrators of rape themselves. Armed militias allied with the Government and clan militias have also been found guilty of forcing girls into marriage 23 . The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 98% of women in Somalia undergo Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) between four and eleven years of age. The most common form of FGM is infibulation, which involves the complete excision of the clitoris, labia minora, and most of the labia majora, followed by stitching to close up most of the vagina. Most men and women support the practice 24 . 18 https://ethnomed.org/culture/somali/somali-cultural-profile & http://www.undp.org/content/dam/rbas/doc/Women%27s%20Empowerment/Gender_Somalia.pdf 19 http://www.undp.org/content/dam/rbas/doc/Women%27s%20Empowerment/Gender_Somalia.pdf 20 http://www.undp.org/content/dam/rbas/doc/Women%27s%20Empowerment/Gender_Somalia.pdf 21 http://somalia.unfpa.org/en/publications/somalia-gender-based-violence-sub-cluster-bulletin 22 https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/africa/somalia/report-somalia/ 23 http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/countries/somalia/ 24 http://www.undp.org/content/dam/rbas/doc/Women%27s%20Empowerment/Gender_Somalia.pdf