Resolution on the Situation in Somalia
We, Participants of the Forum on the Participation of NGOs in the 44th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights,
Considering that Somalia is party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, has adopted all the international and regional instruments for the protection of human rights and humanitarian law ratified and domesticated by the former Democratic Republic of Somalia;
Further considering Somalia’s obligations under the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders), particularly to ensure the rights of human rights defenders to assemble, associate, express themselves and participate in the government of the country and the conduct of public affairs;
Deeply concerned by the continued violations against civilians notably arbitrary arrests, prolonged detention, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, extra-judicial executions and denial of access to medical treatment and food in internally displaced camps;
Deeply disturbed by the violence against women being carried out by all actors involved in the conflict and by the recent stoning of a girl of 13 years old executed as a result of her rape;
Deploring the recent and continuing targeting and kidnapping of aid workers rendering it particularly difficult for these groups to carry out their vital work;
Condemning the involvement and responsibility of all actors involved in the conflict, notably the TFG forces, the Ethiopian troops, and the insurgents, especially Al-Shabab, in the deteriorating human rights situation;
Deeply disturbed by the systematic attacks being committed against journalists and the unlawful killing of journalists and other human rights defenders forcing an increasing number into exile;
Deeply concerned by the situation of women human rights defenders in Somalia or defenders involved in women’s rights and issues, that are perceived as culturally sensitive, and who as a result face additional gender-specific risks and violations in their human rights work;
Noting that harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders, including journalists, obscures the actual and deteriorating human rights situation and thereby undermines efforts to bring these violations to the attention of the international community;
Noting the recent UN-brokered Djibouti Agreements of June 2008 between the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) and the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) and the more recent agreement signed on the 26th October 2008 which calls for the implementation of a cessation of hostilities and agrees to the relocation and withdrawal of Ethiopian troops and their replacement by AMISON and later UN troops;
Noting that the in the Declaration released in Djibouti by the two parties calls upon the international community to help the parties to establish a unity government in a timely manner.
The NGO Forum calls upon the ACHPR to take all necessary measures to pass a resolution:
- Condemning the increasing violence in Mogadishu that has caused the death of hundreds of civilians and forced over 60% of the population of the town to flee and seek refuge in IDP camps, which often lack basic facilities, or further afield;
- Calling on the TFG to allow for the establishment of an independent international commission of inquiry in order to ensure prompt, impartial, effective and independent investigations into all cases of human rights violations, both past and present, particularly those affecting human rights defenders;
- Calling on the TFG and the ARS to ensure that a genuine peace and reconciliation process is carried out, a process which includes all the parties in the conflict, as well as members of civil society notably by ensuring the observance of the provisions of the Djibouti Peace Accord and by seeking to ensure the inclusion of the remaining armed groups within the Accords;
- Calling on the TFG and the ARS to observe the provisions of the Djibouti Agreements first and foremost by complying with the cessation of hostilities agreement;
- Encouraging the TFG to establish accountability mechanisms which conform with international standards of independence and impartiality in order to bring an end to impunity and ensure that all actors responsible for current and past abuses are held accountable for their actions;
- Calling upon the TFG, Ethiopian troops and insurgents to bring an immediate end to arbitrary arrests, harassments, systematic attacks and targeted killings of all human rights defenders, and more particularly journalists;
- Encouraging the TFG to ensure the protection of defenders and to create an enabling environment for them to pursue their legitimate work;
- Calling on all member States of the African Union to provide support – logistical, political and financial – to entities and bodies that can monitor and report on the human rights abuses and can help to establish accountability mechanisms, notably to the field offices of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR);
- Recommending to AU member States to ensure that all HRDs in particular journalists that have been forced into exile can pursue their vital work by providing them with assistance, and protection;
- Calling upon the AU members to ensure that the AU troops currently stationed in Somalia extend the protection they are currently offering to include the protection of civilians, particularly internally displaced persons;
- Encouraging the AU members to ensure the AU troops also offer protection to civil society by ensuring the protection of key institutions notably the independent media outlets.
Done in Abuja, November 9th, 2008
