Somalia’ s traditional customs classify Somali women as part of the Birimageydo, a category of society exempted from harm, especially in wartime when women often act as peace envoys. In recent years, there has been an increase of incidents of violence against Somali women including gang rape and killings. This created a lot of fear among Somali women/girls, and these rape crimes have no age limitation, 2years to 75yrs old women are raped.
The theme of PDRCTalks 16 was about Sexual Violence against Women and Girls with particular focus on rape to increase awareness, discuss about the root causes, motivations, challenges and putting forward preventive measures to address such problem. .The event of the 16th PDRCTalks was held on 30th November 2020, the keynote speakers were Mrs Bahsan Ahmed Said, head of UNFPA office in Puntland and Said Abdi Muumin, Head of the Puntland Human Rights Defender. The Puntland Women Lawyers Association (PUWLA) also participated in the event and brought the initiative forward to highlight the issue of sexual violence against women and girls.
This Policy briefing paper is the result of that event.