Somalis happiest in East Africa, Burundians most miserable in the World - Report

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Somalis Happiest in East Africa, Burundi is the Least
Somalis are happier than Kenyans, in spite of having endured war for more than two decades, a new report shows.
Ranked at 76 globally in the 2015 World Happiness Report released by the United Nations on Thursday, Somalia is the happiest... Read Full Story:
Somalis happiest in East Africa, Burundians most miserable in the World - Report

More Afghan civilians were killed or injured in 2015 - United Nations

Report says 11,002 civilians were killed or injured, a 4% jump from the previous year, and attributes 14% to Afghan security forces – United Nations
An Afghan woman reacts near the site after a suicide attacker detonated himself at the entrance to a police base in Kabul on 1 ...
More Afghan civilians were killed or injured in 2015 - United Nations

How sad? ISIS sells women and girls into sexual slavery for "as little as a pack of cigarettes"

The United Nations envoy on sexual violence detailed Monday how Islamic State militants are selling teenage girls into sexual slavery and inflicting horrific sexual violence on female abductees.

Zainab Bangura met with women and girls in April who had escaped from areas controlled by the insurgent group, and this week talked about what she had heard.


She explained how large groups of abducted girls were kept in cramped conditions, subjected to abuse and assigned monetary value by a group of militants before being sold. In one case, a 15-year-old girl was sold off to an IS leader in his 50’s who taunted her desire to commit suicide before raping her.

In some cases, teenage girls were sold in IS militant slave markets for “as little as a pack of cigarettes,” said Bangura. The group continues to run this slave trade as they abduct more women and girls in the territory they take over, she explained.

Bangura’s accounts are the latest in IS’ well-documented history of abhorrent sexual violence against women. A Human Rights Watch report released in April documented systematic rape and forced marriage of Yazidi minority women. Women and girls who escape also face continuing trauma from their experiences, and largely lack the psychosocial support required.

Yazidi religious leader Baba Sheikh has issued repeated calls for acceptance and reintegration of survivors of IS abuse, something that Bangura praised on Monday.

The UN has repeatedly condemned the use of sexual violence by ISIS, with Bangura stating last month that the group has “institutionalized sexual violence and the brutalization of women as a central aspect of their ideology and operations, using it as a tactic of terrorism to advance their key strategic objectives.”

The group uses abducted women to attract young male foreign fighters who make up a significant portion of its forces, according to analysts. IS has also issued commandments and pamphlets on the proper protocol for slavery under its interpretation of Islamic Law.

Bangura stated that the exact number of women and girls enslaved by IS militants is not currently known.

Source: BBC

How sad? ISIS sells women and girls into sexual slavery for "as little as a pack of cigarettes"