ALGERIA: The only refuge in Algeria supports abused women and fights for their rights

Record ID: 573661

  • Title: ALGERIA: The only refuge in Algeria supports abused women and fights for their rights
  • Date: 10th March 2010
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF WOMEN AT THE REFUGE LOOKING AT CHILDREN PLAYING IN PLAYGROUND (7 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 25th March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA51JS62V7RV5QT9YMRN59UZ9QS
  • Story Text: At the only women's refuge in Algeria, there is little to celebrate on International Women's Day.
    Dar al-Insania (The House of Humanity) was inaugurated in June 2008 in Annaba City, about 600 kilometres east of the capital Algiers. The shelter was set up for abused women, with or without their children, by a group of businesswomen, the Association for the Development of Algerian Women. The aim is to give women a temporary home where they can get support and rehabilitation before re-entering society.
    Wafa is 23-years-old. A group of men raped her when she was on her way to the university with her friend. But the crime was never reported to the police because Wafa was afraid she would be blamed for the rape.
    "I came here because I was raped. I did not file a complaint because I was afraid; they do not believe the woman, in our society. If I filed a complaint, I would be accused of being willing, because they do not hear the woman. The woman does not have any rights and she is always (seen as) responsible," she said.
    Wafa says International Women's Day is pointless.
    "The 8th of March (International Women's Day) is just ink on paper, it does not have any impact. Woman's Day is just a fiction, it is not effective in reality."
    Many women are too scared to report crimes like rape and other form of sexual violence for fear they will not be believed and that of they do go to the police they will be rejected by their families.
    Aida is 29-years-old. Her boyfriend raped her and she became pregnant and was rejected by her family. Given shelter in a centre for the homeless, her baby was born and adopted. But after the birth she says she was raped a second time by an employee of the centre. Pregnant a second time, she sought refuge in Dar al-Insania.
    "I do not want another person to have to live through what I have lived through. The Algerian woman is maltreated, she does not have any rights and she is suffering a lot."
    Atika is 51-year-old and is the mother of two daughters. After her divorce, her husband threw her out of the family home. She has been living in Dar al-Insania for a year.
    "The woman is always marginalised, the victim, she is always made out to be the one responsible for a wrongdoing and she is always made out to be incompetent. We are fed up with always being the victims," Atika said.
    The centre provides the women with a safe and secure environment for their rehabilitation.
    "We are responsible for planning the rehabilitation of the women. The first step consists of making them feel welcome, and creating a feeling of trust and security on the part of the woman through protecting them and listening to them. We also give them training and medical care, because it is out of question to abandon them in their situation," says Mounira Hadda, President of The Association for the Development of Algerian Women.
    Hadda says sadly the status of women has barely improved over the years since the country gained independence.
    "She must work, she must be trained. She does not have a choice. She must continue the fight. Unfortunately, nothing was given to her. She is always fighting, since the war of liberation until now, 48 years later. We have not attained what we are looking for, in the family or in terms of women's rights," Hadda added.
    Reported violence against women in Algeria is alarming, according to police statistics of 2009.
    During the six first months of 2009, 4,500 women suffered violence and abuse, including sexual violence and harassment. Of those women, four were killed.
    The same statistics said 15 percent of the aggressors were husbands of the abused women, four percent the lovers and more than six percent were brothers and other family members.
    Women's rights activists say the actual rate of violence against women is much higher than shown by official statistics, which only reflected cases which have been reported to officials.
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