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. …
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 …
PRESS STATEMENT: Somaliland passes its first Anti-rape Law Read More »
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 …
The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) Network convened its annual board, staff and advisors meeting attended by 32 members from 8 different countries across the region on 16 – 18th November, in Entebbe, Uganda. Our debates and discussion underlined the new cycles of disparity evolving every day, which continue to implicate women, …
COMMUNIQUE: Our heads are bent by the heavy burden Read More »
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 …
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 …
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 …
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, …
A prominent Sudan Women and Civil rights activist passed away Read More »
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 …
Horn of Africa: there are no quick fixes in ‘countering violent extremism’ Read More »
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 …
Gender Alert: Uganda, Tanzania shine at the Gender Justice Uncovered Awards Read More »
