Rights expert calls for action on 'serious' conditions in camps for displaced Somalis

The conditions in the camps for Somalia's internal refugees are "the worst you can imagine," with hundreds of thousands being charged rent to live in abject poverty, and the international community must address the situation, according to an independent human rights expert cited today by the United Nations humanitarian office there.

A news release from the Office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia said that independent expert Ghanim Alnajjar had wrapped up an 11-day mission in the country by calling for action to address the "serious" conditions facing most of the country's 370,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), who live in abject poverty in areas controlled by armed faction leaders.

"The camps are in the worst conditions you can imagine," Alnajjar said. "They have absolutely no basic services, such as water, health facilities or schools…and have to pay to use very basic toilets and…in addition are charged rent." Following his visits to IDP camps in Hargeisa ("Somaliland") and Bossaso ("Puntland") and Kismayo in the South, he urged local authorities, civil society groups and the wider international community to work together to address the situation in the camps.

Mr. Alnajjar said he was concerned that, for two consecutive years there has been violence in areas of Somalia and a deterioration in security, which "is having an impact on the human rights of thousands of ordinary people" and restricting access to them. He noted that the most pressing concern in "Puntland" was discrimination against minorities who had no government or armed protection and were therefore vulnerable to sporadic rape and looting.

In "Somaliland," Mr. Alnajjar was particularly appalled by the conditions at the Hargeisa Central Prison, declaring it "the worst prison in the area, with no sanitary facilities and curved tin roofs which retain heat." He was also seriously concerned by the practice of imprisoning juveniles together with children. He noted however that the general trend in Somaliland had improved since his visit last year.

During their third annual visit to Somalia, Mr. Alnajjar and his team also looked into a variety of other pressing human rights concerns, including the state of the judicial system, law enforcement and prison conditions, the challenge of demobilization and child soldiers, the status of women and human rights education. Insecurity prevented the team form travelling to the capital, Mogadishu, or to the southwestern areas of Bay and Bakol.