February 2018

PRESS STATEMENT: Somaliland Religious Affairs Fatwa on Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting – NOT TO BE MISLED

Recently in Somaliland, coinciding with the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, a fatwa (religious ban) was issued by the Ministry of Religious Affairs stating as follows: ‘It’s forbidden to perform any circumcision that is contrary to the religion which involves cutting and sewing up, like the pharaoh circumcision, the ministry’s fatwa. …

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PRESS STATEMENT: Somaliland passes its first Anti-rape Law

For the longest time, stories of rape are prolific in Somaliland’s urban areas with the semi-independent state’s image of an “island of relative peace” away from the turmoil in Somalia. In the past, majority of rape victims believe that law enforcement authorities are un-willing and ill-equipped to investigate these crimes. Commendably so, after a seven-year …

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PRESS RELEASE: Public Order Laws in Sudan continue to be used to punish and control women

The report, ‘Criminalisation of Women in Sudan: A Need for Fundamental Reform’, shows how public order laws, designed to protect morality, continue to disproportionately target women, who can face long spells in jail and flogging for infractions such as wearing ‘trousers’ The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) and REDRESS have …

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PUBLIC STATEMENT: REPORT OF STONING CASE IN SOMALIA – A MOTHER OF 8 STONED TO DEATH IN THE DISTRICT OF SAAKOW

On the fateful afternoon of Friday 27th October, in the southern district of Saakow, Habiba Ali Isaq, a 30 year old mother of eight children, was stoned to death for alleged adultery against her husband, Ali Ibrahim. According to her husband, Isaq was living in Hagar village in Jubbar with her children when she left …

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LAUNCH: Graduation Day – A snippet documentary dedicated to the Women and Girls in the Darfur Region, Sudan

Today, the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) launches a snippet documentary capturing its on-going work in North Darfur, Sudan and the provision of both literacy and sexual violence protection and response programs for those internally displaced. SIHA has been engaged in skills-development programs for Darfuri IDP women and girls (in …

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PRESS STATEMENT: Condemning insurgent acts of terrorism in the double truck bombings in Mogadishu, Somalia

Somalia’s long-running political unrest has continued to take a heavy toll on civilians, as warring partied and insurgent Islamic continue to hurt, kill and later, displace them in the country.  On Saturday 14th October, a deadly double truck bombing struck in Mogadishu – one of the deadliest attacks in the capital of Somalia, with a …

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A prominent Sudan Women and Civil rights activist passed away

In the early hours of Saturday 12th August Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, a renowned Sudanese leader of the feminist movement and fierce defender of women’s rights within the Horn of Africa region, passed away. Fatima was born in 1933 in Omdurman, and was a staunch advocate for women’s rights in Sudan.  Her activism began in the late 1940’s, …

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Horn of Africa: there are no quick fixes in ‘countering violent extremism’

An effective response to violence and harmful ideologies is important. But projects are failing to adequately engage with root causes. Since 9/11, western countries have increasingly invested in programmes to prevent transnational violent extremism. These include serious militarised measures but also “softer” civic interventions under the banner of ‘countering violent extremism’ (CVE). An example is …

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Gender Alert: Uganda, Tanzania shine at the Gender Justice Uncovered Awards

A Ugandan High Court decision won the People’s Choice Gavel at the 2017 Gender Justice Uncovered Awards hosted by Women’s Link Worldwide.  In 2012, a woman gave birth to two babies at Mulago Hospital, Uganda’s only referral hospital and was informed that one of the babies had died at birth. When asked to see the body, the hospital …

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