allAfrica.com: Somalia: The Human Rights Crisis (Page 1 of 3)

Statement prepared by Human Rights Watch for the "Arria formula" meeting on Somalia

Thank you for inviting Human Rights Watch to share our concerns over the human rights crisis in Somalia. My name is Georgette Gagnon and I am the director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch welcomes this initiative by the United Nations Security Council to discuss the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Somalia. The situation in Somalia is one of the world's starkest and most neglected tragedies. In basic human terms the scope of the crisis is enormous. It is also a situation with serious regional implications that must be squarely addressed by the Security Council.

Since early 2007, thousands of civilians have been killed in appalling circumstances: crushed to death in their homes after indiscriminate bombardment; injured by shrapnel from mortars, heavy artillery, and bullets and dying slow, agonizing deaths when they are unable to reach medical care; deliberately executed by members of armed groups on all sides; and caught in ceaseless crossfire in densely-populated neighborhoods. Thousands more have been injured, assaulted, raped, and looted of all their property as they fled the violence in Mogadishu. Each day adds to the toll of civilian deaths and injuries.

Up to 700,000 people have been displaced by violence from their homes in Mogadishu in the past year, with 50,000 people displaced in the first months of 2008 alone. These newly displaced people join some 400,000 people who were previously displaced, plus several hundred thousand Somali refugees, for a total of more than one million internally displaced people in south-central Somalia-at least ten percent of the entire population.

UN agencies currently estimate that up to sixty percent of Mogadishu's residents have fled the city. Many people remain camped on the fringes of the capital in squalid camps. Malnutrition rates are reportedly rising among children. Humanitarian agencies face huge challenges in their efforts to provide assistance to the displaced people and other vulnerable groups living in other areas of Somalia, partly due to continuing obstruction, but also due to serious security concerns. Compounding the humanitarian needs, the poor rains are contributing to increased fear of drought across the region.

Regional factors

There is no question that serious security concerns persist in Somalia. The country has been stateless for seventeen years, with millions of people under the thrall of warlords. The arms embargo imposed by the UN Security Council has been poorly enforced, and Somalia's internal crisis is exacerbated both by the ongoing tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and by US counterterrorism initiatives in the region.

The failure to resolve the Ethiopian-Eritrean border dispute has led to each country supporting opposing sides in Somalia: Ethiopia, backed by the US, supports the weak, but internationally-recognized Transitional Federal Government, while a variety of Ethiopian insurgent groups as well as Somali armed groups reportedly rely on substantial military and financial support from Eritrea.

Patterns of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Somalia

Human Rights Watch has closely monitored, documented and reported on patterns of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Somalia. In 2007, our researchers conducted an in-depth investigation of abuses connected to the hostilities in Mogadishu. We interviewed scores of eyewitnesses in five different locations, including Mogadishu, and published a comprehensive report on our findings. We continue to document crimes committed in Mogadishu and other areas through research in the region and from afar.

Each of the parties to the armed conflict has committed serious violations of international humanitarian law. In some cases, where individuals knowingly or recklessly committed these violations, the violations amount to war crimes.

Violations by the forces allied to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG)

Although TFG forces have played a secondary role in much of the indiscriminate bombardment of Mogadishu, they have been responsible for a variety of attacks against civilians in Mogadishu. These include widespread pillaging and looting of civilian property; rape; attacks on humanitarian workers; mass arbitrary arrests and mistreatment of detainees. The TFG has also failed to provide effective warnings to civilians of impending military operations, interfered with and sometimes obstructed delivery of humanitarian assistance, and repeatedly closed independent media outlets. To date there have been no apparent efforts by the TFG to investigate or prosecute those responsible for the killings of journalists and human rights activists in Somalia, much less other abuses reported by human rights organizations.

Violations by Ethiopian National Defence Forces

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