Human rights in Somalia
Member State of the Arab League Human rights in Somalia throughout the late 20th-century and early 21st-century were considered dire, but have gradually improved over the following years.
[4] 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.
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.
It also endorsed a Human Rights Roadmap, which defines government duties and sets specific benchmarks to be achieved over a two-year timeframe.
[20][21] To address the issue, the central authorities as of December 2013 were in the process of forming a special crime unit to investigate and counter gender-based violence, as well as constructing a clinic set aside for victims of sexual assault.
The national judiciary, security and police forces were all concurrently receiving specialized gender training as part of the broader reform effort.
[22] In June 2014, the Somali government also launched a National Action Plan against sexual violence in conjunction with local civil society groups.
[7] According to a 2005 World Health Organization estimate, about 97.9% of Somalia's women and girls underwent female genital mutilation,[24] a pre-marital custom mainly endemic to Northeast Africa and parts of the Near East.
[27] By 2013, UNICEF in conjunction with the Somali authorities reported that the prevalence rate among 1- to 14-year-old girls in the autonomous northern Puntland and Somaliland regions had dropped to 25% following a social and religious awareness campaign.
[11] Prominent human rights activists include the constitutional Committee of Experts member Hanan Ibrahim, who serves as the Chairperson of the Barnet Muslim Women's Network; Hawa Aden Mohamed, Chairperson of the Galkayo Education Centre for Peace and Development; and Fartuun Adan and her daughter Ilwad Elman, founders of the Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre.
[30] In December 2014, the Federal Parliament also passed a new 54-point national Child Protection Act, which had been formulated by the Ministry for Women Affairs and Human Rights.
[32] President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud later signed the treaty in January 2015, making Somalia the 195th state party to ratify the global Convention.
[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.
