Deqa Yasin

Gender Equality & Women's Empowerment

Of the whole earth
Taketh region by region
ladies who strike
ladies who bend heroes
ladies who gaineth independence
ladies who reserve judgements
with au par intellect
and noble magnificence
found solely in our homeland
no other territory.
 
Gabigeed adduunyada gobol gobol u qaadoo.
Hablo weerar geli kara. Hablo geesi dili kara.
Gobannimona hanan kara. Hablo talada goyn kara.
Garashana iskaga mid ah. Quruxdana ka wada gob ah.
Geesteenna mooyee, geyi kale ma joogaan.
 
-“Hablaha geeska Afrika” by Maxamed Ibrahim Hadraawi-

Somali women have played a major role in the peace and state-building processes, including leveraging their positions within communities, clans, and their homes to initiate dialogue and reconciliation. While these efforts have attracted little recognition, they have continued to make a significant impact behind the scenes. 

There is increasing global recognition that advancing gender equality and women’s participation in conflict-affected contexts is a precondition for sustainable peace and development. On this basis, the UN Security Council Resolution UNSCR 2282, as well as UNSCR 1325 and follow-up resolutions, call for women’s meaningful participation in all post-conflict processes.

Recent UN/World Bank research affirms that inclusion is key to conflict prevention and highlights the significance of women’s participation in this context. Similarly, Agenda 2030 emphasises the important role of women in peacebuilding, enshrines closely interrelated goals on peaceful societies (SDG16) and gender equality (SDG5), and calls for gender sensitivity in the implementation of all Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). 

Advancing these objectives was a central element of my mandate as Minister of Women and Human Rights Development (MoWHRD) and a key objective of my civil society advocacy. 

Gender in the Provisional Constitution, the New Deal and the National Development Plan 

Political Inclusivity is entrenched in the Founding Principles of the 2012 Provisional Federal Constitution of Somalia under Articles 3 (4) and (5). Article 3 (4) of the Provisional Somali Constitution states that “the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia promotes human rights, the rule of law, general standards of international law, justice, participatory consultative and inclusive government, and the separation of powers between the legislature, executive and an independent judiciary, in order to ensure accountability, efficiency and responsiveness to the interests of the people”. It further clarifies under article 3(5) that “Women must be included, in an effective way, in all national institutions, in particular, all elected and appointed positions across the three branches of government and in national independent commissions”.

In 2013, in my capacity as a civil society representative, I was involved in negotiating Somalia’s New Deal compact, which was structured around the Peacebuilding and state-building goals (PSGs) that included PSG1 (Inclusive Politics), PSG2 (Security), PSG3 (Justice), PSG4 (Economic Foundation), and PSG5 (Revenue and Services). In the New Deal, gender was treated as a ‘cross-cutting theme’, as opposed to an independent goal.

I, together with other civil society representatives, unsuccessfully fought for gender to be treated as a goal in its own right, and to be incorporated into the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework of the New Deal milestones throughout the negotiations of the New Deal Compact. There were very few women ministers from both Federal and State levels in the monthly meetings of the groups responsible for the different PSGs and of the Somali Development and Reconstruction Facility (SDRF), however they were unable to help when it came to lobbying for integration of gender-related concerns during discussions.

When I took office as the Minister of Women and Human Rights Development in April 2017, one of my mandates was to advance gender equality as a central objective for sustainable peace and development in Somalia. I therefore strongly advocated for the addition of a dedicated pillar on Human Rights and Gender in the implementation structure of the National Development Plan (NDP), which replaced the New Deal Compact. Creating this pillar was an uphill task that met much resistance, but eventually, the Human Rights and Gender Pillar, Pillar 9 of the NDP, saw the light of day. 

This pillar brought together Federal Member States (FMS) officials from the regional Ministries of Women and Human Rights, the Benadir Regional Administration (BRA), Civil Society, members of the Human Rights and Gender Committee of the Federal Parliament – House of People (HoP) and Senate, the Independent Human Rights Commission of Puntland and the Attorney General’s (AG) Office. Its monthly meetings in Mogadishu were chaired by the Federal Minister of Women and Human Rights Development (MoWHRD). The pillar was critical in ensuring dedicated attention to facilitating mainstreaming of gender and human-rights-related concerns across the implementation of the NDP. 

Increasing women’s representation in parliament (the 2016 elections)

During my time as Deputy Chair of the Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT) in the 2016 elections, I actively contributed to ensuring that women’s seats in both houses of parliament increased from 14% in the previous elections to 25%. This was a milestone for Somalia because, for the first time, more women were supported to surmount obstacles, including pushback from the clan system (as articulated by Anab Ahmed Isse, the first former Deputy Speaker of the Hirshabelle parliament). This signals a major leap for women in Somalia, that will lead toward a more inclusive society, where with changed social norms, young girls in Somalia would be able to visualise themselves in powerful positions such as representing their people as Members of Parliament.

Women’s representation in public institutions

During my tenure as a Minister, I applied the principle of gender equality in my work when setting up institutions and filling vacant positions within the Ministry and affiliated institutions. I applied this principle when establishing the Somalia Independent National Human Rights Commission (INHRC). Under Article 15 (1) of the establishment law (Law n. 16) of the INHRC, I was mandated to establish Somalia’s INHRC. 

I led the nomination of the Commissioners in a rigorous, transparent, inclusive, and highly consultative process that was compliant with the global principles, also known as “The Paris Principles”  emphasise independence and autonomy. At the end of the process, 4 out of the nine commissioners (44%) were women, and one a person with disability was selected, a first for Somalia. I again applied gender equality principles when establishing the National Disability Agency (NDA). Between June and December 2018, I spearheaded the development of the establishing law of the NDA. 

The Council of Ministers and the Federal Parliament approved the NDA establishment law, paving the way for the President’s signing into law on 31 December, 2018. Three of the five commissioners of the newly established NDA were women. This was my way of signifying the importance regarding the need of having more women in decision making positions in Somalia. 

Somali Sheroes: Writing women into history and providing role models for the next generation

As Minister, I commissioned a series of documentary videos on a selection of prominent women, who, in their different fields and capacities, contributed to the betterment of women’s status in the Somali society, especially in Somalia’s post-civil war political processes and who exhibited hard work and tenacity in running small successful businesses. I did this through a program titled “Silsiladda Halyeeyada Gabdhaha Soomaaliyeed”- Somali Sheroes.

The Sheroes include: Halima Jama Afrah, a former member of the Independent Federal Constitution Commission (IFCC), Anab Ahmed Isse, the first Deputy Speaker of the FMS of Hirshabelle Parliament, Amina Mohamed Mursal, former Minister of Women and Family Affairs and current MP as well as Jawahir Baarqab, a social activist from the Benadir Regional Administration (BRA).

They are indeed our #MySomaliSheros.

Strengthening legal protection of women’s rights through legislation

As Minister, I led the drafting of several bills designed to protect the rights of women and girls. These included the Sexual Offences Bill, Anti FGM Bill, Child Rights Bill, the Disability Bill and the National Disability Agency establishment law.

Our attempts to have the Sexual Offences Bill (SOB) passed into law drew a lot of resistance from many quarters. This bill (SOB) was initiated by MOWHRD in 2013 as a silver bullet law against a wide range of sexual offences. On 31 December, 2015, the SOB was submitted to the Cabinet as a final draft. As a Minister, I made it my priority to have it enacted into law, and I rapidly revived the process of moving it forward. The SOB draft was unanimously approved by the Cabinet (22 out of 22 ministers present) on 31 May, 2018 and sent to the House of the People for debate and adoption on 3 June, 2018. The bill was distributed to the MPs in the House of the People in September 2018, but it never made it to the floor for the first reading, nor was it submitted to the Committee on Gender, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. 

On 9 November, 2019, the Speaker of the House of the People – in breach of Parliamentary Rules of Procedure – returned the draft Bill to the Cabinet, attaching an annex which contained references to the articles which, in his view, needed to be amended and requesting the Cabinet to change the draft Bill. On the 10th of December, 2019, his action was resisted by 15 House MPs, who called him out for being in breach of both the constitution and House Rules of Procedure rules 27(8), 83(3), 84(1) and (4).

In mid-2020, the Parliament introduced a new draft bill called “Hindise Sharciyeedka Galmada”- or “the Law of Sexual Intercourse Related Crimes (“LSIRC”). However, its exact English translation is “Penetration draft bill”. The bill contains provisions which contravene the Somali Provisional Constitution and international human rights law and standards Somalia is party to, hence a major setback in the fight against sexual violence

Somali likeminded CSOs and Progressive MPs pushed for the re-tabling of the original draft SOB in the House of the People, while rejecting the “Penetration Bill” in toto. They engaged in discussions of the two opposing bills on social media and webinars with stakeholders. They also used online and offline petitions to collect signatures of citizens who supported the cabinet-approved SOB. The Penetration draft bill was finally stopped by the push back.

Somali Women Speak with one voice: The Somali Women’s Convention

In Somalia, women just like men, tend to identify themselves along wider cultural, regional, political and socio-economic lines. Such cleavages have frustrated the development of an umbrella women’s movement and their effective mobilisation to defend their rights in Somalia. 

To help overcome this challenge, I initiated a National Convention that was aimed to create a broad coalition to push for women’s rights and other concerns in key reform processes- including the revision of the provisional constitution, the development of electoral and political party laws, among others.  

The agenda for the convention was developed with a wide range of stakeholders, including Federal Member State Gender Ministries, women members of parliament and civil society, among other representatives. The Convention was held between 4th and 6th March 2019 and brought together over 350 Somali women and male allies from across Somalia and the diaspora. The participants included government representatives, civil society, parliament, media, the private sector, youth, the religious sphere, and the internally displaced and people living with disability. 

During the convention, key stakeholders involved in the constitution-making, the 2020-21 electoral process, as well as selected representatives from the FMS, shared experiences. The Participants collated their shared demands for women’s rights into the Somali Women Charter. Ground-breaking in scope, inclusiveness, and ambition, the Charter called for fifty per cent representation of women in all levels of government and full participation in socio-economic sectors, greater protection of women’s rights, zero tolerance for sexual and gender-based violence and female genital mutilation. The priorities in the charter closely reflected those of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda. The Charter, therefore, offers a unique vehicle for the impactful and efficient follow-up on the WPS agenda in Somalia.

As a follow up to the Women’s Convention, my Ministry supported the FMS Ministries of Gender and the Benadir Regional Administration (BRA) to develop action plans for the implementation of the Somali Women’s Charter in their different regions. These regional action plans were to be incorporated into a National Action Plan for the implementation of the Charter and the Women, Peace, and Security agenda. 

My Ministry also conducted a survey of more than 10,000 women across Somalia titled “Somali Women Forging Alliances to Safeguard Equal Rights for All”, that collected a wide range of views and concerns of Somali women. The findings showed that most Somali women felt they lacked opportunities to participate in decision making (92%), hence the need to be afforded that opportunity (86.6%). They also felt that women would have more access to a decision maker if that person was a woman (86.6%). The report contributed to a better shared understanding of key challenges and the immense urgency of meeting women’s demands in the Somali Women’s Charter. 

The COVID-19 pandemic and women’s rights

Gender inequality and women and girls vulnerability in Somalia was further exacerbated by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The planning and execution of the National pandemic response largely focused on the country’s health and economic impacts of COVID-19 without taking into consideration the fact that different social groups were being impacted differently. As such, the gender dimension of the pandemic was grossly underestimated. 

As a Ministry, we realized that there was an urgent need to intervene. The first step I took was to commission a rapid assessment on the impact of the pandemic on Somali women running small businesses. The results were alarming: due to Covid-19 restrictions, the women who participated in the research reported that they had lost all of their income. We used the findings of the Rapid Assessment to lobby other government institutions, including Ministries of Planning, Education and Labour and Social Services and Commerce, to seriously factor in the gender dimension of the pandemic in all their COVID-19 mitigation responses. 

My Ministry executed several awareness raising drives on appropriate safety measures among the women civil society and vulnerable populations at large. We also organised targeted relief food drives to support women and other vulnerable groups. 

To build on this progress going forward, it is critical that in supporting inclusivity, the participation of women and youth receives dedicated and consistent attention. Hopefully, the push for meaningful inclusivity will be maintained as a guiding principle in all processes and appointments.

Publications

I led in the development of the following publications: