South and Central Somalia1 has been the scene of armed conflict since the collapse of Siad Barre’s government twenty years ago. Children born in 1991 in this part of Somalia and who are entering their 20th year have never known respect for human rights, peace, the rule of law and an effective government. While armed conflict has devastated Somali society as a whole, children, who represent more than half the estimated population of Somalia,2 have been particularly vulnerable to its impact. As a 15 year-old Somali boy said to Amnesty International in March 2010: “Most of my life I have lived in fear”. Somalia is one of only two states in the world - with the United States of America (USA) - that have not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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