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🚨 Gender Alert -The Case of Fahima and Farah Mohamoud: Perverse Sexual Violence in Somalia as a Crisis of Impunity and Silence
On June 13, 2025, in the town of Lascanood located near the contested border between Somalia and Somaliland, two young sisters, Fahima Yasiin Mohamoud (16 years old) and Farah Yasiin Mohamoud (17 years old) , were brutally beaten and gang-raped by twenty-five (25) men aged between 17 and 20 years old.

PRESS STATEMENT: Women’s Rights Organizations (WROs) Call for Equitable and Inclusive Representation in the Formation of Somalia’s Human Rights Commission
We acknowledge and commend the government for initiating the long-overdue process of establishing a Human Rights Commission, an essential constitutional obligation and a key demand of civil society actors across the country for over a decade.
While this step is welcome and reflects the

COMMUNIQUÉ: Women’s Rights Activists from the East and Horn of Africa Call for Just and Equitable Family Laws
We, the women’s and human rights activists, government actors, legal scholars, and religious leaders from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Somaliland, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda, gathered in Kampala for a Regional Convening on Family Law Reform hereby:
Express deep concern over the enduring gender bias embedded in family laws, structures,

PRESS STATEMENT: Current Update on Atrocities at Zamzam Displacement Camp, North Darfur
Since April 12, 2025, the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) Network has closely followed the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) brutal attack on Zamzam Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp, North Darfur. SIHA has issued two statements on the situation, highlighting

Announcing the Winners of SIHA Network’s 2025 Women at the Frontline Awards
On Wednesday, May 7, 2025, SIHA hosted a special awards ceremony, held both in person at the Universal Gab Hotel in Wau, South Sudan, and online to unveil this year’s winners of the Women at the Frontline Awards.
Three (3) exceptional grassroots Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) from South Sudan were recognized for their tireless efforts in combating violence against

Statement by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA Network) on Ethiopia – (no. OBS/433)
Your Excellency, Honourable Commissioner Mudford Zachariah Mwandenga,
The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) is a regional feminist network with over 200 member organizations working across South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, and the Somali region. We welcome this opportunity to address the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) this session.
We wish to bring to your attention the deeply worrying situation of women and girls in Ethiopia.

Statement by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA Network) on Somalia – (no. OBS/433)
Your Excellency, Honourable Commissioner Janet Ramatoulie Sallah-Njie,
The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) is a regional feminist network with over 200 member organizations working across South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, and the Somali region. We welcome this opportunity to address the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) this session.
We note with concern that Somalia remains one of the most perilous countries for women and girls, with gender-based violence (GBV)

Statement by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA Network) on South Sudan – (no. OBS/433)
Your Excellency, Honorable Commissioner Solomon Ayele Dersso,
The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) is a regional feminist network with over 200 member organizations working across South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, and the Somali region. We welcome this opportunity to address the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) this session.
We note our deepest concern at the worsening situation of women and girls in South Sudan, a country that continues