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Shelter from the storm:
Escaping from gender violence in Ethiopia
7 December, 2009 | George Ngwa
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The safe house for victims of gender-
based violence hides behind tall, grey walls in a nondescript
neighbourhood of the capital. Run by Tsotawi Tekat Tekelakay
Mahiber (TTTM) – the Organization Against Gender-based Violence --
is known only to the police.
Some women are busy making white ribbons for the upcoming Sixteen
Days of Activism against Gender Violence. Others are minding the
newly born babies in the shelter. The complex comprises offices, a
health clinic, a counselling room, kitchen and dining facilities,
dormitories and workshops. The fifty-bed facility is a welcoming place
for women and their children, who often arrive battered and with
nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Providing support and protection
The safe house is based on the premise that effective work against
gender-based violence can not be achieved without providing support
and protection for survivors/victims of violence. Twenty-one-year-old
Aster (not her real name), one of the women staying there, agrees.
"The safe house has been very helpful to my children and me. It has
provided us with counselling, health care and shelter," she says. She
arrived in the shelter in May, with a young child in tow and another due
in a month. Her story is typical of those of many battered women in
Ethiopia.
Due to her parents' financial inability to send her to the university,
Meskerem left her rural village Jimma, 350 kilometres west of Addis
Ababa, at the age of 16. She headed to Addis Ababa to live with an aunt
and hoped to continue her education. However, she soon met a man
who deceived her into accompanying him to another town. After they
started living together, she became pregnant. A second pregnancy
followed in rapid succession.
Eight months into her second pregnancy, her partner's mother and
other relatives beat her up and threw her out. After spending two
weeks sleeping in the streets of Addis Ababa, a good samaritan took
her to the local Women's Affairs office which, in turn, referred her to
the shelter. A month later, she gave birth. The shelter helped her to
press charges for assault, but she had to give up after two court visits
due to the transportation costs associated with making court
appearances with her young children.
Gender violence is pervasive and takes many forms
Aster considers herself one of the fortunate survivors. According to
Maria Munir, the Executive Director of TTTM, the organization that
runs the safe house, demand for the shelter far outstrips available
capacity, due to the pervasive nature of gender-based violence in the
country. At its inception four years ago, the shelter had a six-bed
capacity. With assistance from UNFPA, the United Nations Population
Fund, there are now fifty beds.
Ethiopia has one of the highest prevalence rates of both sexual and
physical violence by an intimate partner. Societal abuse of young girls
continues to be a problem. Besides rape and battery, the most
widespread manifestations of violence against women in Ethiopia are
harmful traditional practices, including female genital mutilation/cutting,
child marriage, abduction as a method of forcefully contracting
marriage and wife inheritance – in some places a woman is considered
the property of the family into which she marries, and if her partner
dies, she is expected to wed a male relative.
Legal redress is limited
Among the key measures that the Ethiopian government has adopted to
combat such practices is Article 35 of the Federal Constitution, which
prohibits laws, cultures and practices that oppress or cause bodily or
mental harm to women.
While women have recourse to the police and the courts, societal
norms and limited infrastructure inhibit many women from seeking
legal redress, especially in rural areas. Social practices obstruct
investigations into rape and the prosecution of the rapist. Many women
are not even aware of their rights under the law.
Ethiopia lacks the necessary infrastructure to support women and
children suffering from gender violence. The safe house lacks
sufficient financial support for providing adequate services to victims,
sufficiently protecting them and assisting with their reintegration into
society. Since opening just over four years ago, it has provided shelter
and services for some 450 women and teenage girls and their children,
many of them born after their mother's arrival in the home. At the time
of our visit to the safe house, there were 20 newborns, most of them
conceived through rape by employers or relatives.
Safe houses are a stopgap measure
Ms. Munir sees the shelter as a stopgap measure, aimed at cushioning
the effects of violence on some of its most vulnerable victims. As
such, the organization offers a holistic approach that includes shelter,
health care, food and clothes for survivors and their children; individual
and group counselling; self-defense and life skills; and professional
skills training.
Aster, who is learning tailoring as a survival skill to help her when she
leaves the shelter, is grateful for all the help she has been given.
"Counselling has helped me a lot in controlling my anger and desire to
seek revenge for what was done to me," she says. But she is uncertain
about her future. "I would like to continue with my education. But
without money, I don't know where my children and I will go to when
my stay here ends." The safe house can accommodate survivors for
only three months, although some have been allowed to stay for up to
eight months.
Trying to stamp out the problem
"Our ultimate salvation will come only when gender-based violence is
totally stamped out in Ethiopia. For us to address the problem properly,
we need to understand the magnitude of the problem; its manifestations
and justification; and consequences on the individual, community and
nation," says Ms. Munir. As a result, in addition to running the safe
house, TTTM has embarked on community outreach education,
networking and research.
The community outreach education component targets law
enforcement bodies (police and prosecutors), women's affairs officials,
health professionals, community and religious leaders and students. It
focuses on creating awareness in the community about women's
rights, gender issues and traditional practices that harm women and
girls.
With networking, TTTM aims to forge coordinated efforts in dealing
with gender-based violence, including advocating for tougher laws. The
research component investigates the causes, extent, types and
consequences of gender violence in Ethiopia so as to locate gaps in
laws and policies and identifty key interventions.
Courtesy
Escaping from gender violence in Ethiopia
7 December, 2009 | George Ngwa
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The safe house for victims of gender-
based violence hides behind tall, grey walls in a nondescript
neighbourhood of the capital. Run by Tsotawi Tekat Tekelakay
Mahiber (TTTM) – the Organization Against Gender-based Violence --
is known only to the police.
- Photographs are not
permitted. Visitors
must pass through a
heavily padlocked iron
gate manned by a
sentry from within.
Inside the compound,
some children are
engaged in play on the
green patio, while
others follow lessons
taught by one of the
shelter's staff
members.
Some women are busy making white ribbons for the upcoming Sixteen
Days of Activism against Gender Violence. Others are minding the
newly born babies in the shelter. The complex comprises offices, a
health clinic, a counselling room, kitchen and dining facilities,
dormitories and workshops. The fifty-bed facility is a welcoming place
for women and their children, who often arrive battered and with
nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Providing support and protection
The safe house is based on the premise that effective work against
gender-based violence can not be achieved without providing support
and protection for survivors/victims of violence. Twenty-one-year-old
Aster (not her real name), one of the women staying there, agrees.
"The safe house has been very helpful to my children and me. It has
provided us with counselling, health care and shelter," she says. She
arrived in the shelter in May, with a young child in tow and another due
in a month. Her story is typical of those of many battered women in
Ethiopia.
Due to her parents' financial inability to send her to the university,
Meskerem left her rural village Jimma, 350 kilometres west of Addis
Ababa, at the age of 16. She headed to Addis Ababa to live with an aunt
and hoped to continue her education. However, she soon met a man
who deceived her into accompanying him to another town. After they
started living together, she became pregnant. A second pregnancy
followed in rapid succession.
Eight months into her second pregnancy, her partner's mother and
other relatives beat her up and threw her out. After spending two
weeks sleeping in the streets of Addis Ababa, a good samaritan took
her to the local Women's Affairs office which, in turn, referred her to
the shelter. A month later, she gave birth. The shelter helped her to
press charges for assault, but she had to give up after two court visits
due to the transportation costs associated with making court
appearances with her young children.
Gender violence is pervasive and takes many forms
Aster considers herself one of the fortunate survivors. According to
Maria Munir, the Executive Director of TTTM, the organization that
runs the safe house, demand for the shelter far outstrips available
capacity, due to the pervasive nature of gender-based violence in the
country. At its inception four years ago, the shelter had a six-bed
capacity. With assistance from UNFPA, the United Nations Population
Fund, there are now fifty beds.
Ethiopia has one of the highest prevalence rates of both sexual and
physical violence by an intimate partner. Societal abuse of young girls
continues to be a problem. Besides rape and battery, the most
widespread manifestations of violence against women in Ethiopia are
harmful traditional practices, including female genital mutilation/cutting,
child marriage, abduction as a method of forcefully contracting
marriage and wife inheritance – in some places a woman is considered
the property of the family into which she marries, and if her partner
dies, she is expected to wed a male relative.
Legal redress is limited
Among the key measures that the Ethiopian government has adopted to
combat such practices is Article 35 of the Federal Constitution, which
prohibits laws, cultures and practices that oppress or cause bodily or
mental harm to women.
While women have recourse to the police and the courts, societal
norms and limited infrastructure inhibit many women from seeking
legal redress, especially in rural areas. Social practices obstruct
investigations into rape and the prosecution of the rapist. Many women
are not even aware of their rights under the law.
Ethiopia lacks the necessary infrastructure to support women and
children suffering from gender violence. The safe house lacks
sufficient financial support for providing adequate services to victims,
sufficiently protecting them and assisting with their reintegration into
society. Since opening just over four years ago, it has provided shelter
and services for some 450 women and teenage girls and their children,
many of them born after their mother's arrival in the home. At the time
of our visit to the safe house, there were 20 newborns, most of them
conceived through rape by employers or relatives.
Safe houses are a stopgap measure
Ms. Munir sees the shelter as a stopgap measure, aimed at cushioning
the effects of violence on some of its most vulnerable victims. As
such, the organization offers a holistic approach that includes shelter,
health care, food and clothes for survivors and their children; individual
and group counselling; self-defense and life skills; and professional
skills training.
Aster, who is learning tailoring as a survival skill to help her when she
leaves the shelter, is grateful for all the help she has been given.
"Counselling has helped me a lot in controlling my anger and desire to
seek revenge for what was done to me," she says. But she is uncertain
about her future. "I would like to continue with my education. But
without money, I don't know where my children and I will go to when
my stay here ends." The safe house can accommodate survivors for
only three months, although some have been allowed to stay for up to
eight months.
Trying to stamp out the problem
"Our ultimate salvation will come only when gender-based violence is
totally stamped out in Ethiopia. For us to address the problem properly,
we need to understand the magnitude of the problem; its manifestations
and justification; and consequences on the individual, community and
nation," says Ms. Munir. As a result, in addition to running the safe
house, TTTM has embarked on community outreach education,
networking and research.
The community outreach education component targets law
enforcement bodies (police and prosecutors), women's affairs officials,
health professionals, community and religious leaders and students. It
focuses on creating awareness in the community about women's
rights, gender issues and traditional practices that harm women and
girls.
With networking, TTTM aims to forge coordinated efforts in dealing
with gender-based violence, including advocating for tougher laws. The
research component investigates the causes, extent, types and
consequences of gender violence in Ethiopia so as to locate gaps in
laws and policies and identifty key interventions.
Courtesy
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Women's Organization (IEWO)
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Alliance
Ethiopian Women Lawyers
Association (EWLA)
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