AU troops accused of raping Somali women

Some of the very men mandated by the UN to protect Somali women are raping and abusing them, alleges Human Rights Watch (HRW), and countries like Canada that fund the African Union Mission in Somalia should help stop it.

Interviews with 21 women and girls, one as young as 12, indicate Ugandan and Burundian soldiers have used a range of tactics to coerce vulnerable women and girls into sexual activity. They have raped and assaulted women who were seeking medical assistance or water at military bases, according to a 71-page report entitled The Power These Men have Over Us. Sometimes women hired to work on the bases have been assaulted, it adds.

ListenIt is ‘pretty horrifying’

“I think it is pretty horrifying given that you are dealing with a marginalized, vulnerable population of women and girls,” says Liesl Gerntholtz, director of the women’s rights division of HRW. “You’re talking about women who have been displaced, sometimes multiple times…who have lived through conflict…who are suffering food insecurity, lack of health care, lack of economic opportunity.”

Years of conflict and famine have forced tens of thousands of women and girls to flee their homes and families. Without resources they are forced into abusive situations to sustain themselves and their children, says Gerntholtz, and they are afraid to complain.

Canada must help, says HRW

It is the countries that provide the troops that have the responsibility to stop the abuse, she says, but if they do not act within a month, the African Union should intercede. Gerntholtz says the AU has limited capacity to investigate the problem so other countries like Canada should help it to set up a body that could do so.

Canada has contributed more than $20 million to the African military force in Somalia, according to the Globe and Mail. Gerntholtz says it and other funding countries should put pressure on the troop-contributing countries to crack down on their own soldiers and stop the abuse.