Political+Impact+injustice

__**Somalia **__

In some places in Somalia, al-Shabaab, an insurgent group hoping to overthrow the government, requires women to wear clothing called an abayas, which covers the women completely from head to toe. Since the government does not step in and stop this, women who are caught without wearing an abayas, or are too poor to afford one are either prisoners in their house or they are whipped, arrested, or punished greatly. Also, women aren't involved in the Justice System at all. They do not make any decisions in the government, legal system, or even individually for themselves. There is something else going on in Somalia that is very disturbing. Over 90% of women have gone through something called Female Genital Mutilation. This procedure is widely accepted and promoted. This practice is when a young girl, between the ages of 4 and 8, has their genital areas actually sown together to keep them practicing chastity, but it causes so many health issues that the girl may die before she can even get married. Anesthesia is barely even used for this and the shock and pain causes the young girl to die. This also creates numerous other health issues and when the girl starts menstruating even more issues occur. Before the Somalia Civil War broke out, the government was looking to rectify this matter. In 1988, it launched a campaign to eradicate FGM on health and religious grounds, saying that it was not called for in the Quran. The latter was especially important, as the Islam religion was used to justify the practice. In November of 1999, the Parliament of Puntland, a region in northeastern Somalia, unanimously approved legislation making the practice illegal, but there is no evidence that the law is being enforced. However, since 1991, the Somalia Civil War has been taking place, causing the central government to lose control of its states to rebel forces. In June of 2009, the government requested a state of emergency, asking for international support. Therefore, the central government, if it has not collapsed, has at least lost control over most of the country’s land. This allows rebel groups, like the al-Shabaab, to maintain its regime. Any law that is being enforced is being done so locally. Therefore, FGM has not been halted, as religious leaders, the ones who believe in FGM, are now in charge of the area. In conclusion, one could say that women in Somalia have no rights at all, and with no stable government in place, they have little to no protection in their everyday lives. This just goes to prove again that the government is so powerless that they cannot even do anything to protect the women from their own country abusing them. Women in Somalia are scared for their lives every day. They can be arrested for walking out their front door without an abayas, punished greatly for something a man would be let off with, and whipped for disobeying their husband. Somalia's government really needs to get its act together if they are going to do something to help their women to escape the abuse they go through in their own country everyday.


 * __Cape Verde __**

Cape Verde, for the most part, is very good towards women's rights in its political aspect. Many laws and protocols were established so that the equality of women could be assured. However, the enforcement of these laws is a bit awry from what was intended. Although there are many laws that prohibited crimes such as rape, they were not enforced very well. Because of this, the crimes had continued without punishment. Also, the number of reports of domestic violence were small and few because longstanding values taught them not to report the issue. Even with laws that said that women had equal rights as men, discrimination continued to happen. The punishment for such crimes were very severe, rape gaining up to 16 years in prison. Many groups have worked to eliminate any further discrimination between the two genders.

A protocol had been established to bring countries in Africa into eliminating women discrimination. This protocol is called the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. There were several countries that are ratified into this protocol, including Cape Verde. This protocol was set up to give new rights to women and to help them step up in the social hierarchy ladder.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is a treaty which ensures that women have equal opportunity in every way; an international bill of rights for women. The preamble and 30 articles defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. This treaty makes sure that countries are putting these views into practice by having them submit a report of any crimes that violates this agreement every so often. Cape Verde has signed this treaty, but Somalia is one of nine that has not.

Aside from the somewhat poor performance of the police force in Cape Verde, the laws are pretty set in place. The only thing that can be done is to make sure that these laws are enforced better.

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