Happy day for Somaliland women after country passes historic anti-rape law
The new law has come in after years of lobbying by children and women's rights advocates.
The self-declared republic of Somaliland has passed the first law against rape since it come into existence in 1991.
Unlike the past, where a victim's family could force them to marry their rapist to avoid being shamed rapists now stand to face at least 30 years in prison.
Somaliland's speaker of parliament, Bashe Mohamed Farah, told the BBC that rape cases have risen and he hoped the new law would help stop that trend.
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"Nowadays we have seen even people carrying out gang rapes," he said.
"The main emphasis of the new act is to completely stop rape."
Though not internationally recognised as a country, Somaliland is one of the most stable and peaceful regions of the larger Somalia and conducts regular elections the latest being in 2017.
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