Human rights in Somalia

Human rights in Somalia are guaranteed in the Federal Constitution, which was adopted in August 2012. They fall under the Ministry of Human Rights established in August 2013.^[1] The central authorities concurrently inaugurated a National Human Rights Day, endorsed an official Human Rights Roadmap,^[2] and completed Somalia's first National Gender Policy.^[3] A Human Rights Task Force was also established in February 2013 to firm up on the protection of individual rights.^[4] Additionally, the federal government in December 2014 organized a public awareness campaign,^[5] passed a new 54-point national Child Protection Act,^[6] and finished legislation on a Human Rights Commission bill.^[7] According to the UN's Independent Human Rights Expert on Somalia, local human rights protection has gradually improved as government institutionalization and legislative reform have taken root.^[8]

Contents

• 1 Human Rights Task Force
• 2 Ministry of Human Rights
• 3 Women's rights
• 4 Children's rights
• 5 Minority rights
• 6 Freedom House index
• 7 International treaties
• 8 See also
• 9 Notes
• 10 References
• 11 External links

·         Human Rig

·         Former Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon established the first national Ministry of Human Rights.

·         In early February 2013, Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon launched an Independent Task Force on Human Rights in order to firm up on the protection of individual rights. The 13-member committee of volunteers was formed after extensive consultations with civil society groups and the Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Osman Jawari. Chaired by prominent human rights attorney Maryam Yusuf Sheikh Ali, one of four women on the panel, the Task Force includes an educator, a peace activist, leaders of Somali women's organizations, senior police officers, a humanitarian campaigner, a religious leader, and a media representative. It is tasked with investigating allegations of human rights abuses and journalist intimidation. At the end of its three-month mandate, the committee is scheduled to publish a report on its findings and recommended courses of action. The Task Force will eventually give way to a permanent parliamentary Human Rights Commission, which will have the capacity to investigate allegations over a longer period.^[4]

·         Ministry of Human Right

·         In late August 2013, during a special parliamentary session, Prime Minister Shirdon established the first dedicated national Ministry for Human Rights.^[1] The federal authorities concurrently declared 27 August as Somalia's National Human Rights Day. It also endorsed a Human Rights Roadmap, which defines government duties and sets specific benchmarks to be achieved over a two-year timeframe.^[2]

·         On 17 January 2014, new Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed joined the Human Rights portfolio with Women's Affairs to form the Ministry of Women and Human Rights. It is led by Khadijo Mohamed Diriye.^[9]

·         Women's rights

·         On August 1, 2012, a new Federal Constitution was adopted, which includes several statutes related to equality as proposed by a Committee of Experts (CoE).^[10] Article 11 of the Federal Constitution guarantees equal treatment for all citizens regardless of gender.^[11]

·        

·         Chairperson of the Barnet Muslim Women's Network Hanan Ibrahim addressing the ISSAT (2013).

·         Women have since obtained greater representation in the public sphere. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, 30% of seats in Somalia's Federal Parliament are legally reserved for women.^[12] This quota was secured by Somali parliamentary consultant Hodan Ahmed and women political leaders.^[13] Ahmed had also helped form the Somali Women Parliamentary Association in 2009 in the preceding Transitional Federal Parliament.^[14] In November 2012, Prime Minister Shirdon likewise appointed two women to the Cabinet, Fowsiyo Yussuf Haji Aadan as the nation's first female Minister of Foreign Affairs and Maryam Qassim as Minister of Social Development.^[15]

·         In June 2013, the federal government began drafting the country's first National Gender Policy.^[16] Led by Minister Maryam Qassim, the initiative was completed by August and aims to empower women, strengthen gender equality and safeguard women's rights.^[3]

·         According to the UNDP, the most common types of violence faced by women and men in 2012 were physical attacks (50% of reported crime cases) followed by property crimes (32%). There was a low overall rate of sexual violence, with a reported nationwide prevalence rate ranging from 2% to 13%. The UNDP suggested that this was possibly attributable to reluctance on the part of female youth to report such cases due to entrenched cultural and social stigmas, though male youth were more likely to report crimes in general.^[17] Most incidents of sexual assault occurred within the context of the insurgency in southern Somalia. Over the first quarter of 2013, Amnesty International reported that 56.7% of victims in Mogadishu were internally displaced persons.^[18] According to Human Rights Watch, the government in 2013 developed comprehensive judicial and security reform plans, but had not yet followed through on those commitments.^[19] At least two women who reported rape were also prosecuted for prevarication, but were later released following appeals.^[20][21]

·         Children's rights

·         Article 29 of Somalia's national constitution defines a child as any individual under the age of 18, and stipulates that "every child has the right to be protected from mistreatment, neglect, abuse, or degradation."^[11]

·        

·         Fartuun Adan, Executive Director of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre.

·         According to UNICEF, 82% of children in Somalia in 2006 reported feeling safe in their neighborhoods during the day. 13% felt rather safe, 4% indicated that they don't know/it depends, while 0% reported feeling unsafe. With regard to night-time safety, 53% of children reported feeling safe in their neighborhoods, with 25% feeling rather safe, 4% indicating that they feel rather unsafe, 1% reporting that they feel very unsafe, while 16% stated that they don't know/it depends. Regarding incidences of violence among family/friends and against children, 72% of urban children reported no such incidents, whereas 20% responded affirmatively. 90% of children indicated that they were not themselves the victims of violence, while 10% reported that they were. Of the types of violence experienced by family/friends and by the children, the majority consisted of robbery (37%), followed by assault (28%), rape (19%), family member killed (11%), verbal assault (11%), genocide/war (8%), abduction (6%), being beat/caned seriously (4%), quarreling (3%), and uncertain (2%).^[29]

Article 11 of the national constitution stipulates that the state must not discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, colour, tribe or ethnicity.^[11]
The Gabboye occupational clans, which include the numerically few Madhiban, Yibir and Tumaal (collectively referred to as sab), have over the years obtained political representation within Somalia. Their general social status has correspondingly improved with the expansion of urban centers.^[34] However, due to their foreign, non-Somali origins, people from the Bantu ethnic minority group still often face societal marginalization.^[35]
In 2013, the federal government announced that it would establish its Directorate General for Human and Minority Rights and Rule of Law within the Office of the Prime Minister.^[36] Through the Ministry of Interior and Federal Affairs, it also launched a new national Agency for Refugees and IDPs, which is tasked with handling legislation, response initiatives, advocacy and implementation vis-a-vis returning and internally displaced citizens.^[6]

Freedom House index

International treaties
Treaty	Organization	Introduced	Signed	Ratified
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide[41]	United Nations	1948	-	-
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination[42]	United Nations	1966	-	1971
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights[43]	United Nations	1966	1967	1975
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights[44]	United Nations	1966	-	1990
First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights[45]	United Nations	1966	-	1990
Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity[46]	United Nations	1968	-	-
International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid[47]	United Nations	1973	1974	1975
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women[48]	United Nations	1979	-	-
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment[49]	United Nations	1984	-	1990
Convention on the Rights of the Child[50]	United Nations	1989	2002	2015
Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty[51]	United Nations	1989	-	-
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families[52]	United Nations	1990	-	-
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women[53]	United Nations	1999	-	-
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict[54]	United Nations	2000	2005	-
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography[55]	U nited Nations	2000	-	-
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities[56]	United Nations	2006	-	-
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities[57]	United Nations	2006	-	-
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance[58]	United Nations	2006	-	-
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights[59]	United Nations	2008	-	-
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure[60]	United Nations	2011