CRINMAIL 172:

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Highlight on Somalia

This CRINMAIL features regular background information on a conflict situation in a specific country followed by an analysis of its impact on children. In light of the continuing refugee situation amidst the ending of the decades long civil war, this month will focus on Somalia.

Somalia armed conflict

Somalia currently faces one of the world's worst humanitarian crises as a result of on-going fighting, drought and blocking of humanitarian assistance by Islamist groups.

Somalia was created in 1960 as an independent state when both British and Italian protectorates of Somaliland merged. The recent conflict history in Somalia started in 1991 when President Siad Barre was overthrown.

State collapse

President Barre seized power in a military coup in 1969 and established a one-party system around a socialist state. He was overthrown in 1991 by opposing clans.

The United Somali Congress (USC) gained control of Mogadishu in January 1991 but later fragmented into rival, clan based factions leading to a full-blown civil war. Four months of fighting in Mogadishu alone between 1991 and 1992 killed an estimated 25,000 people, while 1.5 million people fled the country and at least 2 million were internally displaced.

The UN negotiated a ceasefire in 1992 and a UN peacekeeping mission (UNOSOM) was deployed with the support of US forces. The mission provided assistance in the humanitarian crisis by securing food supplies but failed to mediate an end to hostilities. The US forces withdrew in late 1993 following the killing of 18 US troops and UNOSOM withdrew in March 1995.

In the absence of a government, Mogadishu was controlled by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), a group of sharia courts. By 1996, the ICU had taken control of major cities.

The transitional government

A series of peace talks failed to achieve agreement on a new Somali government until August 2000 when clan elders and other senior figures appointed Abdullah Salat Hassan President and a transitional government was set up with the aim of reconciling warring militias. But, by the end of its mandate, the administration had made little progress in uniting the country.

In 2004, after protracted talks in Kenya, the main warlords and politicians agreed on a Transitional Federal Charter and appointed a parliament based on clan representation.

The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) remained weak and its authority was further compromised in 2006 when the ICU gained control of the capital and much of the south. On the invitation of the TFG, Ethiopia launched an attack against the ICU, allowing the TFG to install itself in Mogadishu in January 2007.

The African Union's Peace and Security Council created the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in 2007. AMISOM is mandated by the UN Security Council to maintain security around key locations in Mogadishu.

For two years following the Ethiopian intervention, the TFG and Ethiopia were involved in intense fighting against Islamist armed groups, including Al-Shabaab - a militant Islamist group that began as part of the armed wing of the ICU in 2006.

By the end of 2008, Islamist insurgents had regained control of most of southern Somalia. Ethiopia pulled its troops out in January 2009.

In May 2009 Islamists insurgents, mainly Al-Shabaab, launched an attack on Mogadishu prompting the government to, once more, appeal for help from abroad.

The end of the transitional government

A series of offences by AMISOM and the Kenyan army weakened Al-Shabaab and forced them to withdraw from Mogadishu in August 2007 and from most of the areas they controlled by October 2012. Al-Shabaab lost control over most areas but still have a strong presence in parts of southern Somalia.

Somalia's first parliament in more than 20 years was sworn-in in Mogadishu in 2012. The parliament chose Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, an academic and civic activist with little political experience, as President in September 2012.

The Republic of Somaliland

After the collapse of the central government in 1991, the local government in the northern regions of Somalia, led by the Somali National Movement (SNM), declared independence from the rest of the country on 18 May of the same year.

Somaliland has an elected government that exercises control over its borders and has been relatively stable since 1996 but no country has recognised its independence and therefore Somaliland has no international legal status or representation in international fora.

Puntland State of Somalia

In 1998, political leaders in northeast Somalia, frustrated from the lack of progress of peace talks, decided to create Puntland State of Somalia as a self-governing state. Puntland experienced internal divisions and more recently has become internationally known as the home of Somali pirates. However it has remained relatively stable.

Children and armed conflict

All parties involved in the conflict have violated children’s rights.

Child recruitment

The report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on children in armed conflict (issued on 15 May 2013) reported 2,051 cases of child recruitment in 2012 mostly by Al-Shabaab, but also from the Somali National Armed Forces. Below are some further figures.

Involvement of children in armed conflict in 2012 (report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on children in armed conflict):

• 2,051 cases of recruitment of children;

• 4,660 cases of violations against children;

• 1,533 cases of abduction;

• 230 case of weapons-related injuries to children under 5 years of age, registered in the four major hospitals in Mogadishu;

• 213 cases of sexual violence.

A report by Human Rights Watch documented many cases of unlawful recruitment and other child rights violations by all parties to the conflict in Somalia. Al-Shabaab have recruited boys as young as 10 to take part in hostilities; they were sometimes used as human shields and coerced into becoming suicide bombers. Girls were abducted for domestic and front-line services as well as to be wives to Al-Shabaab militia members. The TFG military forces and militias aligned with them have also recruited children despite commitments by Somali officials in late 2010 to stop the recruitment and use of children.

Attacks on schools

The report of the Secretary-General reported that Al-Shabaab and other militia groups continue to target schools. Al-Shabaab recruit children and teachers from school in areas under their control and impose their harsh interpretation of Islam on the school curriculum. They also use schools for military purposes deploying fighters and heavy weapons even when the schools are packed with students.

Refugees and internal displacement

Two decades of violence and conflict and consecutive years of harsh droughts have led to the internal displacement of 1.1 million persons; almost 60% of them are children.

As of July 2013, the conflict has left over 1 million living in exile in neighbouring countries, mostly in Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen. Kenya hosts the largest number of Somali refugees, most of them are in the Dadaab area.

The Dadaab refugee complex in north-east Kenya was established in 1991 and is today the world’s largest refugee camp; most refugees are from Somalia. Originally built to house 90,000 refugees, the camps now hold over five times their intended capacity.

The camps have been consistently targeted by attacks from Al-Shabbab and fighters from the TFG and from Al-Shabaab operate inside and around the camps, recruiting men and boys to fight in Somalia.

The last few years has seen the security situation in the camps further deteriorate following a series of attacks by Al-Shabaab on aid workers and refugees. The escalation of attacks has prompted many humanitarian organisations to scale back their operations in the camps. This has had a very negative impact on the security and protection of refugees.

News and Updates

War drives number of forcibly displaced worldwide

More people are refugees or internally displaced today than at any time since 1994, says the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in a new report published last week ahead of World Refugee Day (20 June). The annual Global Trends report shows that as of the end of 2012, over 45.2 million people were in situations of displacement compared to 42.5 million the year before, with war being the main cause for displacement. Children under the age of 18 represent 46 per cent of all refugees, and last year the UNHCR recorded the highest number of unaccompanied or separated children filing asylum applications. More details here.

Growing discontent in OPT could lead to violence

A report by the United Nations Special Committee to investigate Israeli practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has warned that popular discontent could result in another round of violence. The Committee, on its recent fact-finding trip, was alarmed by testimonies concerning the “systematically abusive detention and interrogation by Israeli authorities of Palestinian children”. Witnesses reported that approximately 200 children are detained by Israeli authorities at any given time and that often children are denied requests to be accompanied by their parents or to have access to a lawyer. The findings come in the wake of the Committee on the Rights of the Child's report, which criticised Israeli forces for mistreating Palestinian children, including by torturing those in custody and using others as human shields. Such criticism accompanies recent video footage taken by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, showing a 5-year-old Palestinian child visibly distressed as he is detained and put into Israeli army truck, for allegedly throwing stones. Full story here.

Worsening violence against children in Afghanistan and the CAR

Assessments by different UN bodies reveal a worsening situation for children in war-affected Afghanistan and Central African Republic (CAR). UNICEF reports that children suffer in a variety of ways from the conflict in Afghanistan – from rising casualties to disrupted education, forced recruitment as child soldiers, or losing family members. Meanwhile, fighting between the government and militia groups in the CAR has meant that “children [are] literally bearing the brunt of a vicious cycle of poverty, poor governance, conflict and political instability.”, according to a UN agency. Full story here.

Progress on child soldiers in Myanmar and Chad?

One year since the Myanmar government made a commitment to the United Nations to stop recruiting and using children as soldiers, progress is still slow. Whilst the release of 42 child soldiers by the Myanmar army has been seen as a positive step, activists believe there is still a long way to go in ensuring the end to the practice of recruiting children as soldiers, and that efforts by the Myanmar government need to be accelerated. Child Soldiers International recently published an op-ed on the continued use of child soldiers, which can be read here. Interestingly, 10 of the 42 children released have reported their circumstances to the ILO. The ILO established a complaints mechanism in 2007 for cases of forced labour, including under-age recruitment into the military. In other news, Chad has agreed to be screened for inclusion of children in its UN peacekeeping force to Mali. Chad was included in the recent list of countries by the UN Secretary-General where children have been recruited as soldiers.

 Reports

Where are they...? The situation of children and armed conflict in Mali

Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict has published a new report on the situation of children and armed conflict in Mali. The report is the first major publication of its kind since the start of the conflict in January 2012 to focus exclusively on children, detailing grave violations being committed against children and how to better protect them. The report considers the following: where are the recruited children; the number of children against whom grave violations are being committed, unknown due to the lack of data and monitoring; and finally, it asks where is the international community, specifically the child protection actors with the expertise and knowledge for responding to conflicts of this nature. Read the report here.

THE LAST WORD

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