The Buck Stops Here

The UN will need $1.5bn next year for life-saving projects in Somalia, and has warned any delay in raising funds could be disastrous for those left destitute by the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

The $1.5bn consolidated appeal process (CAP), or joint appeal, was launched in Nairobi on Tuesday and will fund 350 projects in Somalia, where famine and conflict have already cost tens of thousands of lives. More than half the deaths have been among children.

The 2012 appeal is 50% higher than in 2011, but officials said this reflected a realistic assessment of needs.

Somalia has experienced two decades of conflict. Despite a major humanitarian effort this year, 4 million Somalis, 43% of the population, still lack basic necessities, and 3 million of these are in the al-Shabaab controlled south, where 250,000 people are still affected by famine. Al-Shabaab has banned some aid agencies from operating in areas it controls.

"With the humanitarian situation expected to remain critical well into next year, early and full funding for the CAP 2012 is essential," said Mark Bowden, UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia. "This life-saving plan will only be achieved if donors pledge and commit early."

In the first half of 2011, humanitarian aid to Somalia was not sufficient to meet the country's needs. But after the first formal declaration of famine, on 20 July, funding rose to $572m in just two months. Although this enabled relief agencies to save many lives, humanitarian officials said more could have been done had the money been available earlier.

After relief efforts intensified, the number of people receiving food each month more than trebled, to 2.6 million, and more than 480,000 acutely malnourished children received nutritional supplements. Three of the six areas where famine was declared had improved to pre-famine levels by November.

Kiki Gbeho, head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), said the unprecedented size of the 2012 CAP reflected the unprecedented scale of the emergency. The 2011 CAP was $1bn, with 80% of the funding met.

"For 2012, the question is how do we ensure that we maintain the funding flows, how do we ensure that all the partners … stay the course, because we expect the situation to remain dire," said Gbeho.

Bowden was optimistic donors would respond to the new appeal, despite concerns that UN agencies might not be able to reach the most vulnerable people, particularly in the rebel-controlled south.

"Somalia has become synonymous with the largest crisis facing Africa," he said. "It is at the epicentre of the regional crisis and I think donors understand that unless you address Somalia there will be continuing major problems in Kenya and also in Ethiopia."

The top state donors for last year's CAP were the US, Britain and Saudi Arabia. One of the main external contributors was the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC), which provided 16% of non-CAP funds.

In December, the OIC said the Somali crisis had triggered unprecedented aid funding from many OIC member states and an unmatched public mobilisation of resources to provide assistance.

There has been some concern that the emergence of new donors and new non-governmental organisations operating in Somalia could complicate relief activities on the ground.

Bowden said more co-ordination was taking place and that donors too needed to establish partnerships among themselves to deal with burden-sharing.

The OIC has signed a memorandum of understanding to better co-ordinate activities with Ocha.

The UN said access remained the biggest challenge in Somalia, adding that organisations taking part in the CAP in 2012 would continue to engage with newer partners, many of whom have increased their activities in the south.

Bruno Geddo, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) representative for Somalia, said the 2012 CAP would constitute a "calculated bet" that relief organisations would continue to be able to operate in Somalia despite the al-Shabaab ban and other obstacles to access.

Around 1.4 million Somalis have been displaced within their own country, and more than 900,000 are living as refugees in neighbouring countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia.

Senait Gebregziabher, Oxfam country director for Somalia, anticipated the crisis would last well into 2012. "What is crucial right now is to get enough funding to help people cope with the situation before the next harvest in the spring," she said.

Although donors and the public had committed $1.32bn to Somalia in 2011, this was little more than half the $2.41bn spent by the international community to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia, she noted.

"We know that donors have deep pockets when it comes to their economic interests," said Gebregziabher. "They must now show the same concern and focus for the fate of tens of thousands of Somalis."

• This article was amended on 14 December 2011. The original headline said the UN had launched a £1.5bn appeal. This has now been changed.

While the latest round of UN climate negotiations failed to demonstrate the kind of ambition and urgency we need to take on the climate crisis, youth and civil society showed an incredible amount of courage. We saw more kinds of risky, creative, powerful activism than we've seen at any prior UN summit. We're pretty sure that's worth celebrating, not forgetting.

On a real gut level, Durban's disappointment reminded us of an important lesson. If we're going to win on the UN stage, we've got to win over our home countries first. And to do that, we've got to bring more of this kind of courage back to all the places we call home. 

So, please spread the word on Facebook & Twitter—and let's make this courage contagious.

Dec 2nd – A few days into the talks, 350.org partnered with Occupy COP17 to organize a "Rally for Survival."  We provided a megaphone to delegates from the Small Island Nations who are fighting inside the negotiating halls of the UN for their very survival. Ambassador Jumeau of the Seychelles gave new urgency to the protestors when he led a human mic check,

"During COP 17, You are all small Islanders. So don't save us, save yourselves. We are one and the same." 

Photo by Julian Koschorke

Dec 3rd – At the halfway point of the talks, thousands of South Africans joined by global youth, flooded the streets to call for climate justice. 350's banner could be seen far and and wide, as could signs like "Stop Climate Polluters" and "We are the 99%."

Photo by CYD-DJC

Dec 7th – A band of Canadian youth delegates turned their their back on the Environment Minister Peter Kent, a puppet for Big Oil, as he took the UN stage. As a result, they were some of the first youth evicted from the talks. Here's how James Hutt, one of the Canadian youth delegates, explained why they took action:

“Our so-called Environment Minister entered these talks by going on record that he would be defending the tar sands. I have yet to hear him say that he’s here to defend my future."

Photo by Shadia Fayne Wood

Dec 8th – US college student Abigail Borah interrupted the lead US negotiator Todd Stern, and for a few moments didn't let him drag down the ambition of the talks. Here's how Abigail began her speech:

"I am speaking on behalf of the United States of America because my negotiators cannot. The obstructionist Congress has shackled justice and delayed ambition for far too long. I am scared for my future. 2020 is too late to wait. We need an urgent path to a fair ambitious and legally binding treaty."

After Abigail finished her speech, the entire plenary of nations ERUPTED in applause (except for, you know, the US). And as security escorted Abigail out, Democracy Now's Amy Goodman was on the spot with her microphone!

Dec 9th – A young woman from Canada, Anjali Appadurai, shook the UN Assembly with one of the most beautiful, impassioned speeches we've ever heard—and followed it with the first ever human "mic check" on the UN stage. Anjali spoke eloquently and powerfully for her generation. It's a voice we'll be doing all we can to back up in the months and years ahead.

When we posted Anjali's speech to Facebook, it quickly became the most popular update from the two week Durban summit—with over three thousand "Likes", "Shares", and comments. One veteran organizer commented, "I want to be like her when I grow up." Many commented that it brought them to tears. You can follow Anjali on Twitter here.

Photos (Clockwise) by: Shayne Robinson, Shadia Fayne Wood, WWF International, Sarah Marchildon, and Ben Powless

Dec 9th – In a culmination of two weeks of amazing people power—350 campaigners, hundreds of youth, and tons of allies pulled off something quite outrageous: we occupied the climate talks! It was about as beautiful, song-filled, chant-crazy, spirited, non-violent action as you could imagine. For two hours, we unleashed the people powered movement that we're building across the globe—and made sure your voices were heard.

There is a story of hope from Durban—it's the story of the youth and their allies who refused to remain silent, and who will stand up everyday and everywhere and show the bravery we saw in South Africa. That's the progress we're most proud of. 

Can you take a moment to share these stories of courage with all of your friends? Just click the buttons below...

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Fishing in the desert. Great photos of a terrible situation -- how drought and hunger are forcing pastoralists to change their traditional way of life.

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Home > Web Features

6 December 2011

Social media stimulates Nigerian debate on sexual violence

By Yemisi Akinbobola

In Nigeria, where a majority of cases of sexual violence go unreported, social media has brought the issue into the open.

Photo: Africa Media Online / Eric Miller

“Kill me, kill me, you people should just kill me.” Those were the words of an unidentified woman as she was being gang raped by five men and her ordeal was filmed with one of their mobile phones. The crime is believed to have taken place at a private off-campus hostel near Abia State University, Nigeria, in August 2011.

The video of the rape, uploaded onto the Internet, caught the attention of blogger Linda Ikeji. Her subsequent blogpost of the crime sparked widespread anger and debate in Nigeria and beyond, especially among bloggers, Twitter users and organizations such as the youth group EnoughisEnough Nigeria.

The authorities’ initially dismissive response to the rape video fuelled the outrage. Assistant Commissioner of Police J.G. Micloth released a statement that after watching the video, he had determined that the victim had not resisted, nor could the suspects be identified from the “legs shown in the video amongst 70 million males in Nigeria.”

The only positive reaction by the authorities came from Minister of Youth Development Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, who described the rapists as “decadent and barbaric” and urged the authorities of Abia State University (ABSU) to investigate the crime.

Abike Dabiri, a member of the House of Assembly and the only prominent female politician to speak out publicly against the rape, attempted to raise the issue in the legislature. But she was rebuked by another parliamentarian who accused her of dabbling “into cases the police can handle” and asked that she “take up the case personally and not bring it to public glare.”

Human rights lawyer Caroline Ajie and other campaigners expressed their disappointment at the lack of response from the first lady “to issue a tacit statement and lead in condemning the dastardly act.” Ironically, the first lady is the founder of the Women for Change Initiative, which aims to raise women’s awareness of their human rights and promote issues that affect Nigerian women and girls.

Unreported crime

A majority of cases of sexual violence in Nigeria go unreported. This is due largely to fear on the part of the victim of being socially stigmatized or blamed. Ms. Ajie estimates that at least 2 million Nigerian girls experience sexual abuse annually and that only 28 per cent of rape cases are reported. Of those, only 12 per cent result in convictions.

Elsie Reed, founder of Delta Women, an organization that aims to empower and fight for the rights of women in Delta State, estimates that 80 per cent of Nigerian women have experienced some form of sexual harassment.

Marianne Møllmann, senior policy adviser at Amnesty International in London adds that violence against women, particularly sexual violence, is often viewed as normal or inevitable in many countries. “I’ve spoken to women whom I’ve asked if their husband is violent, and they say ‘yeah, he rapes me sometimes,’ as though it’s normal,” she says. “That shouldn’t be.”

According to the UN Women campaign against gender-based violence, Africa Unite, anywhere between 13 per cent and 45 per cent of women in sub-Saharan Africa experience assault by an “intimate partner during their lifetime.”

Africa Unite also reports that in Uganda, for example, an astonishing 59 per cent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 “have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime.”

Letty Chiwara, chief of the Africa Division of UN Women, explains that one of the key elements of the Africa Unite campaign is “to advocate or to make governments realize the need to have laws and policies that not only are about prevention, but are also about protecting and providing services to the victims.”

Stirring online debate

The existence of video evidence of the ABSU rape, as it as become popularly known, added to the outrage at the lack of an appropriate response by the Nigerian authorities.

“Rape goes on in this country in universities everywhere,” argues blogger Joachim MacEbong. “Many are not reported, those that are reported are waved away. So if such a video [shows] there was clearly no consent, and we cannot do anything about it, it doesn’t make any sense.”

Bloggers like Joachim have been at the forefront of the online debate regarding the ABSU rape. Popular Twitter users have also capitalized on their large following by releasing regular tweets to keep the debate alive.

Henry Okelue, who lives in Nigeria and has more than 3,000 Twitter followers, sent out periodic tweets in his contribution to the campaign. “[I was] trying to get people to focus on the issue, trying to help people to form an opinion on what had happened,” he said. “Because the moment people stop talking about it, that’s the end of it.”

‘Rape walk’

On 5 October, less than three weeks after Ms. Ikeji first blogged about the ABSU rape, the social media campaign moved offline as campaigners went on a ‘rape walk’ in Lagos and Abia. A similar walk was planned in Abuja, but had to be cancelled after authorities in the federal capital warned that the safety of the campaigners could not be guaranteed.

In Lagos, only about 60 people were present at the march, suggesting perhaps that campaigners still have a long way to go in establishing physical social mobilization in their efforts to combat sexual violence against women.

However, the use of virtual platforms to open up the debate is beginning to yield some positive results, according to Ms. Reed. “People now come forward, and people talk about it, and people are now aware that it’s not okay to sexually harass somebody.”

Yet, despite the assertive social media campaign and the subsequent “rape walk,” no one has been charged in the ABSU rape.

— Africa Renewal online

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h/t @EdPomfret