Somalia Human Rights

New report on Military, Security and Police Transfers

Despite a United Nations arms embargo on Somalia, the country is awash with weapons. In the recently released report, “International Military and Policing Assistance Should Be Reviewed,” Amnesty International voices concerns that the supply of arms, training and funding to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) are being delivered where issues of accountability and human rights violations remain unresolved. Due to the lack of safeguards, the arms embargo has been continually violated and many armed groups are supplied through imports from Yemen, Eritrea, other parts of the Arab world, and the Somali diaspora. The international community needs to respect the embargo and end all supplies of weapons and funding until effective mechanisms are put in place to prevent assistance from falling into the wrong hands and being used to commit human rights violations.

Human Rights Concerns

Since the overthrow of Siad Barre's 21-year government in January 1991, civil conflict has torn Somalia apart, leading to the collapse of the state and the economy. In addition, threatened by drought and famine, the surviving population faces further massive loss of life. Despite the relocation of the Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu and Jowhar last July and the lure of a broad bilateral trade agreement with neighboring Kenya in September, insecurity fuelled by rival warlords and their militia remains a major concern for Amnesty International.

Civilians are being raped and mutilated, with the victims systematically targeted on account of their clan origin. Thousands of civilians were displaced. Warlords responsible for factional fighting have become members of the new government. Journalists were arrested and human rights defenders threatened in several areas. Amnesty International appeals to Somali political leaders for action to end these severe human rights abuses.

Piracy off the Somali coast

The International Maritime Organization (IMO)  issued a statement on March 31, 2009 on the situation of piracy and armed robbery against ships in waters off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden  The IMO underlined that developments ashore in Somalia are probably the only way to resolve this problem in the long term and favorable political developments ashore would help stem the scourge of piracy offshore. The IMO unanimously encouraged the continuation and strengthening of naval protection for shipping sailing through the region, until the problems ashore are solved.

 The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations with 168 Member States and three Associate Members, responsible since 1959 for developing and maintaining a comprehensive regulatory framework for shipping, including safety, environmental concerns, legal matters, technical co-operation, maritime security and the efficiency of shipping. The IMO has called for:

• the protection of seafarers, fishermen and passengers on ships sailing in those troubled waters;
• the need to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid to Somalia affected by ships chartered by the World Food Program; and
• the need to preserve the integrity of the Gulf of Aden - a lane of strategic importance and significance to international shipping and trade, both east and west of the Suez Canal, which is used by some 22,000 vessels annually, carrying around 8% of the world's trade.

For further information, see Piracy off Somalia.

Somali journalists slain

The international press freedom group Reporters Without Borders/ Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) condemned the killing of the director of HornAfrik radio on February 4, 2009. Said Tahlil was shot dead in the capital Mogadishu, just 16 months after the radio’s former director, Ali Imam Sharmake, was killed by a booby trap car bomb. With 11 journalists killed there since 2007, RSF reports that Somalia is now Africa’s deadliest country for the profession.  See the full press statement by Reporters Without Borders.

In a January 6, 2009 statement entitled 'Journalists and humanitarian workers at risk in war-ravaged Somalia', Amnesty International "appealed to all parties to the conflict to stop attacks and threats against civilians, including journalists, civil society activists and humanitarian workers.  See the full statement here.

New documentary on Somali refugees

"Beach of Death" is a documentary by filmmakers Christof Putzel and Kaj Larsen about the deadly risks some Somali refugees take to flee from years of civil unrest, traveling through shark and pirate-infested waters to find relative security in Yemen. The documentary includes footage of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams who attempt to assist the survivors. MSF called Somalia one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises in 2008.  Click here to watch the trailer.

Somalia Fact Sheet

The fighting between Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and its opponents has killed civilians and livestock, destroyed infrastructure, and displaced thousands. Yet U.S. policy on Somalia, and the Horn as a whole, has lacked coordination and coherence, and has failed to protect Somali civilians. With this fact sheet, delivered to all members of Congress in March 2007, Amnesty International USA, Africa Action, International Crisis Group, the Open Society Policy Center, and Oxfam America call upon U.S. policymakers to seize the opportunity for the United States, in collaboration with Somalis and the broader international community, to effect positive change in Somalia. View the fact sheet »

Read Report
Somalia: UN Security Council Arria Briefing (PDF)

News

Reports

En Español

Annual Reports
2009 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005
2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000
1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996
1995