Somaliland’s lower House of Parliament passed a bill, 46 to 51, to criminalize rape and related types of sexual violence. To become law, this bill must go through the upper house and then be signed by President Muse Bihi Abdi, which the Guardian predicts will occur by March 1^st. The news of this legislation may simply provoke an ‘about time’ reaction; however, until now, the BBC has stated victims were forced to marry their rapist in order to avoid shame. Therefore, the bill which criminalizes rape, gang rape, trafficking, sexual assault, and child marriage is a step forward for women’s rights.

Internationally, this makes Somaliland more progressive than the 73 countries, the South China Morning Post noted, that allows rapists to avoid persecution if they marry their victim. Additionally, the bill comes at an important time; according to the Independent and the Somaliland Government, sexual violence towards women and children has dramatically risen in the last year due to the Horn of Africa drought which caused the displacement of tens of thousands of people. However, the legislation’s effectiveness is already being challenged. The Guardian points out that the law does not cover domestic violence or female genital mutilation, as well as questioning the police forces ability to implement it. Therefore, despite the positive step forward, Somaliland joins the 127 countries that the United Nation’s Women’s Justice Report states do not explicitly criminalize rape within marriage and adds to the “603 million women living in countries where domestic violence is not considered a crime.”

Despite its positive aim, this bill could have negative effects on the region. Somaliland is not internationally recognized, even after declaring itself independent from Somalia in 1991 over 25 years ago. The country has a working political system based on a constitution adopted in 1997, its own police force, its own currency and a population of 3.5 million. The official government website for Somaliland compares its GDP and legislative successes such as this bill to other Sub-Saharan African countries in order to advocate for its international recognition. They state on the official website: “We are confident we will achieve our goal and we will never relinquish our rightful demand for international recognition.” The BBC noted this context, stating this legislation was about being seen “internationally as a viable democracy with functioning institutions.” This motive can explain the aforementioned limitations of the bill. With respect to world peace, the contrast between Somalia’s lack of rape law and Somaliland’s new bill could cause further conflict in the country.