VP/HR — Somali woman jailed for reporting her rape
20.2.2013
Question for written answer E-001753-13
to the Commission (Vice-President/High Representative)
Rule 117
Mario Mauro (PPE)
On 5 January 2013, a Somali woman was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment by the court of Mogadishu after reporting that she had been raped in the capital’s refugee camp.
The woman described her experience in an interview carried out by a freelance journalist from Al Jazeera, during which she revealed the repeated rapes committed by the country’s security forces in its refugee camps.
Under the terms of the sentence, which also involved the journalist who carried out the interview, who was given a one-year prison term, the female rape victim’s year-long imprisonment will begin as soon as she has finished breastfeeding her child.
In the light of this episode, which confirms the lack of respect for women’s fundamental rights in Somalia, can the Vice-President/High Representative say:
- 1.whether she is aware of the constant violation of women’s fundamental rights in Somalia;
- 2.what measures the European Union has taken to ensure that women’s rights are respected once again in Somalia;
- 3.what measures the European Union could take to have the Mogadishu court’s sentence overturned, thus ensuring that the Somali woman and the freelance journalist avoid prison?
OJ C 371 E, 18/12/2013