whether she likes it or not.”

Nebeyu Mahari
Tsotawi Tekat Tekelakay Mahber (TTTM) Coordinator

Nebeyu Mahari is programme coordinator at the Tsotawi Tekat Tekelakay Mahber (TTTM) or Organization Against Gender Violence as it is known by its English name.

TTTM provides safe house for child rape victims and other services survivors for acts of gender-based violence.

Bruck Shewareged interviewed Nebeyu on the challenges his and other organizations are facing in respecting the rights of women. Excerpts:

Gender violence may have different implications in different societies. For example, winking at a woman in the workplace in western societies might constitute harassment while in others, it does not. So where does gender violence start?

By gender violence, we mean any act of violence directed at a woman without her consent. These acts of violence could be psychological or physical. Gender violence could have many manifestations, starting from the winking that you mentioned to insult, eyeballing, ostracization, denial of food, sexual harassment, rape etc. Domestic violence could also be considered as gender violence.

What acts of gender violence are recurrent in Ethiopia?

In Ethiopia, all forms of violence are recurrent. The most prevalent one is domestic violence. It’s been happening in every family but it is not recognized by the majority of the society as violence. For example, if a husband beats his wife, the society does not recognize it as an act of violence. It is considered as an accepted norm. A husband has to punish his wife if she does not submit to him.

This is a major problem. Even if you take policemen, when cases of violent acts are brought to their attention they usually say they won’t interfere between a husband and a wife because it is a private affair, and no concern of the law. However, the law regards domestic violence as a violation of the human rights of women.

Rape is also highly recurrent in Ethiopia. It has not also been recognized as violence by the majority of the society. As you know, the Ethiopian society is highly complex, have varieties of cultures, customary and religious practices. The practices are highly attached to our culture.

As far as rape is concerned, even among law enforcement bodies it is divided into two categories, i.e., those rapes that result in the loss of virginity and those that do not. Rape cases that result in loss of virginity are given much more emphasis than those that are not.

Speaking of rape, a new trend is developing in Ethiopia: boys are more frequently raped in urban areas like Addis Ababa. The issue of rape is not only limited to girls and women. Boys, too, are becoming victims of rape.

Does your organization have it as its mission to protect boys who are victims of rape? Or is it only about girls?

Actually as the name of our organization indicates, it is against gender-based violence. It also includes men. But we are specific, and are working specifically for women.

However, when you address the problem of women, you also address the problems of men because gender-based violence is a societal problem that has to be dealt with. It has been considered as women’s issue only.

What are your stated objectives?

Our major objective is to see a violence-free society. To attain our goals, we have set in motion four important programmes. The first and the most important programme is community outreach education and sensitization. The majority of our society in both urban and rural areas have a limited understanding of gender-based violence.

We aim to sensitize the community at large about the issue, about the damages that this violence can cause to both women and men. Our targets include the community at large, government officials, the police, prosecutors and judges. We have been providing a host of trainings to these groups to handle the cases of women with particular concern.

Our second programme is networking i.e., working with other organizations that have similar objectives with us. This way you will avoid duplications and can exert a concerted effort towards solving the problem. We are part of the network that focuses on the problem. We believe in working in partnerships.

The other important activity is conducting researches on the issue. The issue of gender-based violence is under-researched. And there is not sufficient material on the issue. Through researches, we will try to indicate intervention areas, core areas where we have to intervene.

The other important component of our programme is running a safe house. This includes provision of shelter counseling services as well as legal aid services for survivors of gender-based violence. We believe that without supporting these survivors, we cannot work towards ending the problem.

Currently we have a safe house, the first of its kind in Ethiopia. And we are the first to start providing such support. It’s been running since January 2006.

We are also providing various types of services including providing income generating activities for the women that are residents of the safe house.

Why are not boys who are raped included in your programme? After all, aren’t they victims of sexual violence like the girls?

As far as our safe house is concerned, we are providing the service for women who do not have anywhere to go after suffering repetitive violence. For example, if a girl is continually raped by her father how can she seek justice in a court to law while she is still living with her father? Society also pressurizes these girls to hide the problem. This does not mean that we are under-recognizing the problem of rape against boys. It is an area where we have to intervene. Actually, there are other organizations which are providing support to these groups. But we are addressing the problem through our community outreach education.

What would be your position on what some call “marital rape” which the Ethiopian law doesn’t recognize?

Yes, you’re right. The law has not been considering the problem of marital rape. Different organizations have been putting pressure, have been advocating for the enactment of a law penalizing marital rape.

But there are complications. When laws are enacted, you have to consider the culture, the customary and religious practices. However, the problem is deep-rooted here. In Ethiopia, a woman is supposed to serve the sexual interests of her husband whether she likes it or not. So the issue of marital rape has been a controversial issue. I personally believe that it has to be included in the law.

But the law doesn’t also recognize the right of the husband to refuse sexual advance or interest from his wife as it stipulates that a marriage has to be “consummated”. So in this sense, isn’t the law non-discriminatory, if not absolutely fair?

Culturally, the man is considered the doer or performer of the action, and the women as the one on whom it is performed in Ethiopia. The law says that unless and otherwise the two couples have health problems, they have to have intercourse. It doesn’t specifically talk about one gender’s obligation. But culturally, it is like I said above. It is culturally a hidden issue.

Some express their anxiety that rape cases are on the rise while others argue that it is only an increase in the reported case of rape. Which one is right?

Actually, as I have said before, no comprehensive study has been undertaken on the issue for various reasons. One thing we have came to understood is that the reporting is increasing. But we cannot be sure that cases of rape are on the rise. I cannot be sure of that.

However, what I can certainly tell you is that rape against boys is increasing. It was not a common thing before. Or, if it were, it was probably under-reported. A man, in our society, cannot talk of or go to the police and report that he was raped while living in our society because it is a taboo to talk about such things, or ever more a shame, highly shameful. It is against our moral values. The law also puts strong penalties against such actions.

Some cite deterioration in moral values as a source of such a crime i.e., raping boys or very little girls. Do you buy that reason? If so, do you incorporate it in your community outreach programme?

Strengthening traditional moral values is one area we are planning to intervene. We are even planning to establish community support groups for survivors of violence, as well as community protection for violence-vulnerable groups. We have also very good customary and cultural practices. Our moral values are strong. As you know, the community usually ostracizes persons who do morally wrong things. So we are strengthening that. At the same time, we are trying to fight harmful traditional practices.

It is difficult to understand why some people commit such crimes. You cannot claim that it is for satisfaction. You cannot also claim that it is intended to exercise power over the victims as some people say. May be it can be mental health problem or, as you said, due to loss of moral values.

What are the main problems when it comes to implementing the rights of women?

We face problems in enforcing the laws pertinent to gender-based violence, and particularly in interpreting the laws. This especially emanates from lack of gender sensitivity on the part of law enforcement personnels. Lack of understanding of the revised laws relating to women and violence is also a problem.

In some cases, the perpetrators of acts of violence are released on bail. And usually, they just disappear. In some situations, they will not receive appropriate penalties for various reasons.

Many would argue that focusing only on women might have the opposite effect by sidelining women from mainstream life of the society. What is you take on this argument?

Projects focusing on women only have been recording failures. Different approaches exclusively focusing on women have failed in different countries. The reason for failure is because they did not consider men as important parts of the solution to the problem.

So the approaches have now shifted from women-centered approach to a gender-centered approach since the 1990s. Any project or programme that aims to address the problems of women has to also incorporate men.

One of the factors which has perpetuated gender-based violence is the fact that the problem is considered to be only women’s problem. The solutions therefore are rejected by men because they are not incorporated into them. As I said before, when we provide trainings we incorporate men too.

Have you come across negative reactions from men when you provide education on women’s rights?

We don’t have a programme in rural areas. But in Addis Ababa, we have faced such problems because the issue is new. Some of them say that they are not aware of the problem. But they finally come to understand that it is a problem that has to be addressed. You can see that it is due to lack of understanding or awareness that these people are perpetuating such acts of violence.

When we tell them not to insult their wives, they are sometimes baffled. “How can a husband not punish his wife when she does not submit to him?” This is their reaction.