Deqa Yasin

Children's Cartoon- UN Child Rights Convention

Child Rights

“Waxii la dhalay iyo dhulka ayaa loo magan yahay”. 
-Maahmaah Soomaaliyeed-

“In the end we shall be at the mercy of the earth and our children”.
-Somali proverb-

“Biri Ma Geeydo” refers to Somali traditional rules of social conduct followed during conflict. The term literally means, “spared from the spear.” This principle dictates that women, children, older persons, and all other vulnerable persons have special protection during times of war. However, this principle has been breached in the course of the protracted civil war in Somalia.  This has led to rampant cases of violation of Somali children’s rights including forced recruitment of children as fighters by clan militias, Al Shabaab and armed forces, and very limited school enrolment, among other child rights violations.

Child Rights Normative Framework

Somalia ratified the Convention on the Rights of Child, (CRC) in 2015, becoming the 196th country to do so. Since ratification, the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), through MoWHRD, has continued to develop legislation (including drafting of the Child Rights Bill), policies, and strategies to enable the realization of the rights of the child, which include rights to education, health, and protection among others. The provisional Constitution of Somalia defines a child as a person under 18 years of age.

Within the first six months of my tenure as Minister, I prepared and submitted Somalia’s Initial State Party Report to the  Committee on the Rights of the Child, in Geneva,  the first treaty body report in over 35 years. It was the first of three such reports that I prioritized. The reporting process was led by a team in my Ministry who were trained by child rights experts on treaty body reporting, with a specific focus on the CRC. Following this, I set up a CRC inter-ministerial task force. My team then trained the focal points in the various ministries. Subsequently, in October 2020, Somalia responded to the additional questions made under the list of issues from the CRC Committee in Geneva. The process successfully ended with the dialogue between the Somali delegation with the CRC Committee in Geneva in May, 2022. The CRC Committee adopted a set of recommendations for Somalia (3 June, 2022).

Preparation of the Children’s Rights Bill (CRB)

A further critical step in recognizing children’s rights was the preparation of the Child Rights Bill (CRB). This required an all of government approach. The CRB was prepared in line with the Provisional Somali Federal Constitution and all the international and regional treaties that Somalia was state party to, such as CRC, ICCPR and CAT, among others. To support the process, I requested the development of a forward-thinking strategy paper that laid out the need for an improved institutional framework in line with the CRC Committee’s General Comment No. 5 on general measures of Implementation for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The paper also identified the key phases that needed to take place to support implementation, including data collection and analysis, initiatives to engage civil society and the broader community, and identification of roles and responsibilities across government. To facilitate the latter, the strategy paper recommended the establishment of a national task force to guide the process of CRB’s development and passing it into law. 

National Plan of Action for Children – the Framework

In 2020, MoWHRD decided to initiate the development of a comprehensive and targeted National Plan of Action for Children in Somalia (NPA/C) in line with the CRC Committee’s requirements. The process commenced with the development of a framework for the NPA/C that spelt out the scope and methodology of NAP/C, identified measures that will enable child rights implementation, reviewed major gaps in national legislation and practice and contributed to the collection of data and information, defined a vision and mission of the strategy, and lastly identified NPA/C implementation and evaluation. Development of the Framework NPA/C started in September 2000 and ended by the end of that year. The process was consultative and included contributions by children and young people. 

Child Protection Curriculum

To address the knowledge gap in child protection in Somalia, the Ministry established a university-based social work curriculum and programme, which includes a BA degree, diploma, and certificate courses. Since 2018, a network of six schools throughout Somalia has trained students to apply common tools, principles, and ethics in the practice of Social Work in accordance with government legislative and policy requirements. By the end of 2020, 540 scholarships were provided to degree and diploma students across six universities and the intake of a further 270 diploma students in Social Work courses.

Child Rights – Drilling Down 

The CRC reporting process helped the Ministry identify areas where further understanding was needed. In this regard, in 2020, I led the development of the Rapid Assessment of Drug and Substance Abuse among Children in Street Situations in Somalia and A Rapid Assessment of the Status of Children with Disabilities in Somalia Report.

Way forward: Full realization of the Rights of the Child

While much work remains to be done to realize measurable improvements in the lives of Somali children, the country is at the threshold of realizing a substantive Children’s Rights Law (CRL). 

The country is close to adopting a first comprehensive strategy on the rights of the child, the National Plan of Action for Children in Somalia for a five-year period, which would enable the development of a full infrastructure for the realization of rights.  This will be underpinned by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s concluding observations. 

Changes in legislation and practice, structural reforms, and compliance with international legal obligations will contribute to the realization of the relevant Sustainable Development Goals and contribute to the coordinated approach to the child’s rights.

Publications & Videos

I led in the development of the following publications: