Somalia: First Women Lawyers' Association Opens With UN Help
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Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
25 July 2008
Posted to the web 25 July 2008
Hargeisa
The first women lawyers' association in Somalia has been established in the Somaliland region with the help of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
"It will take time for the male-dominated legal profession to understand and accept the importance of women lawyers in society," Antonia Lulvey, UNDP's judiciary project manager, said.
The association, which was created earlier this year, has five members, with a further 17 women set to graduate from the University of Hargeisa in September. The UN agency has provided grants to enable women to attend the law faculty, as well as supplying equipment, training and financial support to the association.
The sole practising female lawyer in Somaliland until last year was Ifra Aden Omar, who currently heads the association. With UNDP help, Ms. Omar provides free legal aid services to women and juvenile cases most commonly rape, domestic violence, divorce, child custody, child maintenance and inheritance.
Currently there are no female prosecutors or judges in Somaliland, according to UNDP, which says it is in discussions with local officials on how to support new female law graduates to practise either as prosecutors or trainee judges.
Meanwhile, the UN envoy to Somalia has told the Security Council that there were limited choices for bringing peace to the violence-wracked Horn of Africa country, but that the time had come to make a final decision on the best possible option.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah said that the options included converting the current African Union peacekeeping mission to Somalia, known as AMISOM, to a UN operation by "rehatting" the troops, creating an international stabilization force or establishing a new UN peacekeeping force.
Mr. Ould-Abdallah also called on the Council to make a strong public expression of support for the peace agreement signed in Djibouti on June 9 between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia.
"Given that Somalis have suffered for so long, and the current favourable political context following the Djibouti Agreement, it is time for the Security Council to take bold, decisive and fast action," he said.
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Under the Agreement, the TFG and the opposition agreed to end their conflict and called on the UN to deploy an international stabilization force to the country, which has not had a functioning government since 1991.
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