Corporate report

Somalia - Country of Concern: latest updates, 30 September 2014

Updated 21 January 2015

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

0.1 Latest Update: 30 September 2014

The overall human rights situation in Somalia remains poor, although the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) continues to take steps to improve this.

Concerns about the use of children in armed conflict in Somalia continue, with reports of children being used on both sides. The UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC), Leila Zerrougui, visited Somalia in August and was encouraged by the commitment from the FGS, AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) and UNSOM (UN Assistance Mission in Somalia), although she noted considerable challenges remain. The UN Secretary General’s most recent annual report on CAAC, released in May 2014, documented 1,293 cases of recruitment and use of children in conflict in Somalia during 2013. Over 900 of these cases were perpetrated by Al Shabaab, although other cases involved the Somali National Army and government-associated militia.

On 25 September, the Somali President and Prime Minister announced that the FGS would adopt the Convention of the Rights of the Child as soon as the law was passed in the Somali parliament. Somalia is one of only three countries not to have ratified this convention. The former Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, raised this issue with the FGS a number of times, including at a ministerial roundtable at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in June, and we look forward to Somalia’s final ratification of the convention.

Somalia has some of the highest rates of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the world, with an estimated 95% of girls undergoing the practice. On 22 July, the UK and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) co-hosted the Girl Summit in London, to mobilise international efforts to end FGM and child, early and forced marriage within a generation. The charter signed at the summit by the FGS and the governments of Puntland and Somaliland committed signatories to work to end FGM and child, early and forced marriage through legislation, awareness raising, and investment in girls. The UK is working closely with the FGS to develop a national action plan on the eradication of FGM and, following that, a long-term strategy for implementation.

On 8 September, Human Rights Watch released a report detailing 21 cases of sexual exploitation and abuse by AMISOM troops in Mogadishu, and calling for institutional reforms of prevention and investigative mechanisms. The UK has been at the forefront of international efforts to eradicate sexual violence in all conflicts, and was extremely concerned by these allegations. The African Union’s (AU) statement following the release of the report, which confirmed their zero tolerance policy on misconduct or abuses in peace support operations, and undertook to investigate fully and report on the concerns raised, was welcome. We look forward to the results of this investigation, and will continue to work with the AU and countries contributing troops in order to improve their capacity to prevent and prosecute these crimes. The UK already supports pre-deployment training programmes for AMISOM on prevention of sexual violence, international human rights laws, and best practice in assisting women and children in the aftermath of violent conflict; we also provide support to the AU’s Gender Peace and Security Programme. The UK commends the efforts made by the AU to improve mechanisms prevent sexual exploitation and abuse, and encourages the AU to continue efforts to further strengthen these mechanisms.

The FGS has begun work on implementation of their national action plan to tackle sexual violence in Somalia, following their presentation of the plan to donors at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. Led by the Ministry for Women and Human Rights Development, they have formed a steering committee bringing in key donors, FGS departments and UN bodies to ensure coordination and delivery of their plan.

Friction between the Shabelle Media Network and the FGS continued in August, when Mogadishu troops raided the radio station’s premises and arrested three journalists following the broadcast of allegedly inflammatory comments inciting violence. Media organisations and unions within Somalia have claimed the journalists have been unfairly targeted, and called for their immediate release. The FGS have confirmed that they have followed due process and will press charges, ensuring the accused are subject to fair legal process.

On 21 June, Yusuf Ahmed Abukar, known as “Yusuf Keynan”, became the first journalist to be killed in Somalia this year. Journalists and media workers have been frequently targeted over the past few years, with few successful investigations or prosecutions into their deaths. The UK, alongside international partners and the UN, continues to call on the FGS to protect media freedom and prevent impunity for crimes against journalists.

According to an Al Jazeera report on 24 August, nine of a total of 13 executions carried out in Mogadishu this year have taken place since July. Human Rights Watch have raised concerns that many of these were civilian crimes tried in military courts, and that the speed of these trials suggests they could fall short of international fair trial minimum standards. The UK is fundamentally opposed to the death penalty. We have raised our concerns with the FGS and continue to work with them, both to improve the overall standard of their justice system and to encourage them towards a moratorium on the death penalty.

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