About This Report
“You Don’t Know Who to Blame”
August 15, 2011

Recommendations

 

To the UN Security Council

  • Establish a commission of inquiry for Somalia to investigate and map serious crimes in violation of international law, and recommend measures to improve accountability for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

To the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

  • Increase the number of human rights officers monitoring and publicly reporting on human rights abuses in Somalia.

To the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG)

  • Take all necessary steps to ensure that TFG security forces and allied armed groups comply with international humanitarian and human rights law.
  • Halt all firing of mortars into populated areas of Mogadishu unless measures are implemented to ensure that their use complies with the principles of distinction and proportionality under international humanitarian law.
  • Ensure that all credible allegations of human rights and humanitarian law violations by TFG forces and allied armed groups are promptly, impartially, and transparently investigated, and that those responsible for serious abuses, regardless of rank, are held to account.
  • Ensure that the roadmap to be developed in collaboration with the international community as stipulated in the “Kampala Accord” includes clear human rights benchmarks notably relating to enhancing the rule of law.
  • Allow an increase in the number of international agency staff monitoring and reporting on human rights abuses in Somalia, and lift the ban on officials from OHCHR and on human rights officers within the UNPOS.
  • Conduct rigorous screening and take other active measures to ensure that no children under the age of 18 remain or are recruited into TFG armed forces.
  • Request that the UN Security Council establish a commission of inquiry to investigate and map serious crimes in violation of international law and recommend measures to improve accountability for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Somalia, and fully cooperate with that commission once it is established.
  • Facilitate access to humanitarian aid in areas under TFG control.

To the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)

  • Ensure that all credible allegations of human rights and humanitarian law violations by AMISOM forces are promptly, impartially, and transparently investigated by AMISOM or force contributors and that those responsible for serious abuses, regardless of rank, are held to account.
  • Halt all firing of mortars in populated areas of Mogadishu unless measures are implemented to ensure that their use complies with the principles of distinction and proportionality under international humanitarian law.
  • Ensure that AMISOM personnel receive appropriate training in international humanitarian law.
  • Consider implementing a system of meaningful compensation payments for civilian loss of life, injury, and property damage. This system should not be limited to compensation for violations of the laws of war but should also include so-called condolence or ex-gratia payments for losses stemming from AMISOM troop activities in which there is no assumption of liability.

To All Armed Groups , including al-Shabaab

  • Immediately take all necessary steps to end violations of international humanitarian law.
  • Take all feasible precautions to protect civilians from the effects of attacks and otherwise minimize harm to the civilian population, including by avoiding deploying in densely populated areas.
  • Halt all firing of mortars into populated areas of Mogadishu unless measures are implemented to ensure that their use complies with the principles of distinction and proportionality under international law.
  • Facilitate the departure of civilians to safer areas during military operations.
  • Halt death threats and targeted killings of civilians.
  • End all forced recruitment of adults and any recruitment of children under the age of 18.
  • Urgently demobilize all children under 18 and permit former child soldiers to demobilize.
  • Appropriately hold to account all personnel, regardless of rank, who commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.

To al-Shabaab and Local Authorities in al-Shabaab-Controlled Areas

  • Take all necessary steps to comply with the principles of international human rights law.
  • Immediately allow humanitarian agencies, including the United Nations, access to areas under its control for the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
  • Respect the rights of the civilian population to freedom of movement, especially the right to seek asylum in neighboring countries.
  • Lift all formal or informal bans on the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and religion. These include measures that prevent groups from gathering or speaking openly; that impose criminal sanctions for failing to pray or for public activity during prayer times; and that attempt to censor public education.
  • Halt all measures that discriminate against women, including restrictions on their work, travel, and attire.
  • End cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishments, including death sentences, amputations, and flogging as a form of punishment.
  • Halt arbitrary interference in the rights to privacy, home, family, and expression, including punishing people whose dress or appearance do not conform to codes imposed by al-Shabaab or local authorities.
  • Ensure that all criminal sanctions are imposed only through legal proceedings that respect the due process and fair trial rights of the accused.
  • Hold to account al-Shabaab members and local administrators who commit human rights abuses.

To the United States, European Union, African Union, United Nations, and Other Donors

  • Ensure that the roadmap to be developed in collaboration with the international community as stipulated in the Kampala Accord includes clear human rights benchmarks notably relating to enhancing the rule of law.
  • Condition future financial and military support to the TFG on clear benchmarks for the respect of international humanitarian and human rights law and accountability for serious abuses.
  • Urge members of the UN Security Council to establish a commission of inquiry on Somalia.
  • Press Kenya to open the border at Liboi, proceed with the opening of the Ifo II camp extension, and grant extra land for new camps to respond to the ongoing influx of refugees.

To the Government of Ethiopia

  • Ensure that all Ethiopian military forces conducting operations in Somalia respect international humanitarian law.
  • Investigate allegations of humanitarian law violations by Ethiopian forces, including by conducting indiscriminate attacks during recent operations, and take all necessary steps to hold those responsible to account.
  • Condition support to TFG-aligned armed groups on their respect for international humanitarian law.

To the Government of Kenya

  • Investigate the indiscriminate shelling of Dhobley by Kenyan forces and hold those responsible to account.
  • Ensure that any Kenyan forces engaged in military operations within Somalia abide by international humanitarian law, and that law enforcement officials operating in Somalia should abide by international human rights law.
  • Provide all Kenyan-supported armed groups with appropriate training in international humanitarian law.
  • Immediately open the border at Liboi and set up a new refugee screening center to facilitate the safe registration and onward transport of Somali asylum seekers from the border to the refugee camps.
  • End all refoulement of Somalis from Kenya and release those in detention on charges of “unlawful entry” or “unlawful presence,” and investigate and prosecute all officials found involved in refoulement, including in the mass refoulement of refugees from Mandera to Somalia in March 2011.
  • Take all necessary measures to end police abuses in the border areas against Somali asylum seekers and refugees—including rape, extortion, and arbitrary arrest and detention, and hold those responsible to account.
  • Immediately allow UNHCR to transfer refugees into Ifo II camp.
  • Urgently facilitate the granting of more land for 300,000 refugees in order to help decongest the existing camps and to respond to the ongoing influx.
  • Publicly confirm that any camps or centers established in Jubaland are not a substitute for Kenya’s responsibility to host Somali refugees, and that Somalis have the right to seek asylum in Kenya both under Kenyan law and international law regardless of administrative changes in Somalia.