After she met the soldier and it was clear that she was expected to have sex with him, she had second thoughts. The interpreter told her she could not leave and ignored her cries and pleas not to be left alone with him. Years of conflict and famine in Somalia have increased the vulnerability of women and girls like Aziza D. Without resources or employment, many women and girls are reliant on outside assistance and forced to do whatever they can to sustain themselves and their families.
The United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and other organizations have documented high levels of sexual and gender-based violence against Somali women and girls, particularly the displaced. Soldiers have committed acts of rape and other forms of sexual abuse, as well as sexual exploitationโthe abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes. This report is based on research in Somalia, Uganda, and Burundi.
Its findings are based on 50 interviews including 21 interviews with survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse as well as interviews with witnesses, foreign observers including officials from troop-contributing countries, and other military personnel. All of the incidents documented in this report occurred since Given the particularly complex and sensitive nature of this research topic, security concerns, as well as the profound reluctance of survivors and witnesses to speak out about their experience, Human Rights Watch did not asses the scale or prevalence of the abuse.
Nonetheless, the findings raise serious concerns about abuses by AMISOM soldiers against Somali women and girls that suggest a much larger problem.
Human Rights Watch documented 10 separate incidents of sexual abuse, including rape and sexual assault, and 14 cases of sexual exploitation. Four of the rape cases and one sexual assault involved girls under eighteen. The youngest victim in the cases we investigated was a year-old girl in the outskirts of Baidoa in May who was allegedly raped by a Ugandan soldier.
