Global perspective Human stories

somali

AU/UN IST/Stuart Price

Somali human rights must not take back seat to security concerns

Human rights must not end up being a “secondary consideration” as the new Somali government focusses on securing and stabilizing the country.

That’s what Kirsten Young, the Chief of Human Rights for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) told members of the Security Council in her brief on the situation in the country.

Journalists, human rights defenders and political leaders have been killed, arrested and harassed, a report by her office on freedom of expression in Somalia has found.

UN Somalia (file)

Somalia terror attack “desperate attempt” to disrupt election

The attack on the Dayax hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Wednesday has been described by the UN there as a “desperate attempt” by Al Shabaab extremists to disrupt the electoral process.

Joseph Contreras, the Spokesperson for the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia, UNSOM, said the terrorist group’s “continual resort to violent tactics is a sign of weakness.”

At least 20 people were killed and dozens were injured in the attack.

Billboards displaying a variety of advertisements along a street in Mogadishu, capital of the Horn of Africa nation Somalia.
AU/UN IST/Stuart Price

Counter-terrorism measures threaten remittances sent to Somali diaspora – UN rights experts

Expressing concern over the impact on vital remittances from diaspora countries into Somalia caused by “necessary but less considered counter-terrorism regulations,” United Nations rights experts today warned the measures may “severely affect the human rights” of Somali people, while urging regulation-setting governments to guarantee the flow of such funds.
Somali fishermen near one of the new fish aggregation devices.
FAO

UN agency deploys artificial fish habitats along Somali coast to boost sustainable fishing

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), working with the European Union has completed the deployment of 25 Fish-Aggregating Devices (FADs) – or ‘fish magnets’ – along Somalia’s 3,300 km coastline, aiming to boost the nation’s small-scale artisanal fisheries and tackle food insecurity and malnutrition to some extents by sustainable usage of the devices.