Summary
In Badbaado camp, only the name is very beautiful, the people are very unkind. The people running the camp are militia allied to the government.… They respect their clan more than the humanity. They don’t care about us, because if they are aware of the attacks against the IDPs they could respond when we reported to them. But they don’t rescue when the women are crying for help.
—43-year-old displaced woman, former resident of Badbaado camp, September 2011
The new government of Somalia plans to relocate tens of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) within Mogadishu this year. Many of these people had arrived in the war-torn capital in 2011 as a result of a devastating famine that provoked widespread displacement. The famine was caused by unrelenting drought, ongoing insecurity and fighting, the blocking of civilian access to humanitarian assistance, and increasing “taxation” of resources and livestock by the armed Islamist group al-Shabaab in south-central Somalia. Although there is no accurate death toll, tens of thousands of people are believed to have died as a result of the famine. Hundreds of thousands of people fled into neighboring countries and the United Nations estimates that more than 75,000 IDPs arrived in Mogadishu within the space of nine months in 2011. Instead of finding refuge and the humanitarian assistance they urgently needed, many displaced people encountered a hostile and abusive environment in Mogadishu.
This report is based on more than a year’s research, including 70 interviews with newly arrived persons displaced from south-central Somalia by the 2011-2012 famine and fighting in some of the main IDP camps and settlements in Mogadishu. It examines the situation of displaced people in Mogadishu from the height of the famine in July 2011 through November 2012. And it describes the abuses faced by these people, who are often silenced by those bent on exploiting their vulnerability.
Throughout this period members of displaced communities in Mogadishu faced serious human rights abuses including rape, beatings, ethnic discrimination, restricted access to food and shelter, restrictions on movement, and reprisals when they dared to protest their mistreatment. The most serious abuses were committed by various militias and security forces, often affiliated with the government, operating within or near camps and settlements for the displaced. Frequently these militias were linked or controlled by managers, or “gatekeepers” as they are known, of the IDP camp.
The fate of the displaced is often in the hands of the gatekeepers. By “hosting” IDPs, gatekeepers determine the location of settlements, the access of IDPs to these settlements and, often, their ability to access humanitarian assistance. The gatekeepers are generally from the dominant local clan; occasionally they are linked to local authorities or to clan militias that ostensibly provide security but in fact control the camps.
Among the many problems in the camps perhaps the most threatening is sexual violence. Displaced women and girls face a significant risk of rape in Mogadishu. They told Human Rights Watch that rape usually occurred at night in the huts. Even Badbaado, one of the few government-run IDP camps in the city, was not safe. Several women described being raped by armed men in uniform, some of whom were identified as government soldiers. Many victims of sexual violence never report their experiences to the authorities, fearing reprisals from the perpetrators, wary of the social stigma associated with sexual violence, and having little confidence that the authorities will respond. As the father of a young woman who was raped by four men in government military uniform said: “We don’t know anyone here, we are new to Mogadishu. So we didn’t try to go to justice, because the commander was harassing us at the time my daughter was raped. So how I can trust anyone here? We must keep silent.” Those that do speak out find few options for protection, medical assistance, or redress.
Camp security, which often depends upon government-affiliated militia, have regularly been implicated in threats and assaults against displaced people, including children. It is particularly dangerous during food distributions or inspections of tents provided by humanitarian agencies. And as a result of increasing pressure on land and property in Mogadishu, longstanding as well as recent displaced communities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to forced eviction.
The accounts of people displaced from Bay, Bakool, and the Shabelle regions of south-central Somalia, who are primarily from the Rahanweyn clan and the Bantu minority group, show that these communities are particularly vulnerable to abuse. Gatekeepers and their militia treat them as second class citizens, and subject them to various forms of repression, including frequent verbal and physical abuse.
These displaced communities face serious difficulties obtaining adequate food and shelter. Gatekeepers and militias use various methods to divert or steal food aid during or after distributions. Some of the displaced are forced to resort to begging due to lack of access to food.
Gatekeepers and militias profit from the displaced communities in other ways. They threaten to confiscate the tents provided to IDPs by international humanitarian agencies, to control their movement, including their ability to leave the settlements or camps. Several displaced women said that they felt as if they were hostages of the gatekeepers. As a 40-year-old woman said:
If we give her [the gatekeeper] the tents we have no other alternatives. If we try to move from the camp she takes the tents from us. We don’t have a plastic sheet, we don’t have other shelter, and we don’t have a place to sleep. So until we get rescued we must stay there as hostages.
The displaced, particularly men, have repeatedly tried to raise concerns about abuses with gatekeepers or local and central government authorities. Too often authorities failed to fulfill their promises, or worse, the displaced were later arbitrarily arrested or beaten by local police or militia for daring to raise their concerns. Further displacement has often been the only option available to displaced people seeking to protect themselves from violence.
The economic, social, and political context in Mogadishu at the time of the famine contributed to abuses against the displaced. The Islamist armed group al-Shabaab’s withdrawal in August 2011 created a security vacuum that Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces were largely unable to fill. This vacuum allowed clan and freelance militias to resurge, many of them directly or indirectly linked to increasingly powerful district commissioners and local officials who emerged to assume control of several of Mogadishu’s districts and its economy.
Internally displaced people are protected under international law—international humanitarian law during wartime and international human rights law at all times. The protections due to IDPs by states have been summarized under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (the “UN Guiding Principles”), which address both protection and access to humanitarian assistance, among other issues. Of emerging importance to IDPs in Africa is the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention), which came into force on December 6, 2012. The Kampala Convention provides a comprehensive description of the rights of internally displaced people and the obligations of states and non-state actors. Somalia is a signatory but not yet a party to the convention.
Abuses against IDPs have taken place in a general context of impunity for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Somalia has been wracked by numerous violations of international humanitarian law, including deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, summary executions, rape, and looting. Access to humanitarian assistance, which is protected under international humanitarian law, has been a serious problem, particularly in al-Shabaab controlled areas.
Those responsible for abuses can be difficult to identify, particularly given the plethora of armed groups active in Mogadishu and the ready availability of military uniforms. Displaced people who described rape and other abuses to Human Rights Watch occasionally identified government soldiers as responsible. Also implicated were members of militias connected to district commissioners and other local officials, some of which have been integrated into government forces. Gatekeepers and their local militias have abused the displaced population in camps they control by stealing their food and restricting their movement.
The TFG, which was in place until August 2012, largely failed to provide even the most basic protections and assistance to the internally displaced people in areas under its control during and following the famine. TFG officials often denied that the abuses, including rape, were even taking place. A UN official described the authorities’ denial that rape was occurring as the biggest obstacle to tackling the abuse. Increasing support for comprehensive medical and other services for survivors of sexual violence should be high on current donor priorities.
The TFG did not hold to account abusive members of government security forces and allied militias. Although the displaced population was one of the largest and most vulnerable populations in the area of Mogadishu under government control in 2011 and 2012, the TFG took few measures to address their needs. Two district commissioners were convicted by a military court for looting food aid, but then-President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed promptly pardoned them.
Humanitarian agencies and organizations and the donors who support them have long faced a challenging security situation and other obstacles to their efforts to provide assistance to those at risk in Somalia. During the famine there was significant pressure to rapidly expand assistance programs in Mogadishu. A sudden influx of new humanitarian organizations, some of which had little experience operating in Somalia, resulted in programs that neither appreciated the problems facing the displaced communities nor the complexities of providing assistance through local officials and gatekeepers.
The result was programs that at times reinforced the power of abusive officials and gatekeepers at the expense of the populations they were seeking to assist. These problems were exacerbated by the security situation, which forced UN agencies and other organizations to operate from afar and not carry out the monitoring necessary for such programs. Addressing these issues also does not seem to have been a priority.
Although the famine is officially over, fighting and insecurity persist in much of south-central Somalia. Even if some IDPs opt to return home in the coming months, displaced communities will remain a significant part of Mogadishu’s landscape for years to come. The end of the famine and the fragile peace currently affecting Mogadishu provide an opportunity for greater access and accountability for all international actors engaged with Somalia, an opportunity that should not be missed.
The new Somali government established at the end of the transition period in August 2012 has primary responsibility to provide protection for the displaced—and the rest of the Somali population. Showing Somalis that the new government, unlike its predecessors, is able to ensure the rights of the population under its control will be an important test of its credibility. The government plans to relocate the displaced within Mogadishu. This will be a positive step if the displaced are more secure and receive more assistance in the proposed relocation sites. The government should publicly commit to addressing key concerns about access to protection, adequate and effective police, and assistance in the new sites before any such relocations start. Donors supporting the Somali police should make the deployment of a competent and accountable police force to IDP relocation sites a priority. The government should ensure that displaced persons fully participate in the planning and management of the relocation process and make free and informed choices.
Ensuring the accountability of government forces and non-state armed groups for abuses they commit is also crucial. There have been some positive signals: the new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, publicly committed in November 2012 to hold to account members of the security forces responsible for rape. However, the police arrest and prosecution in January 2013 of a displaced woman and a journalist to whom she had spoken about her alleged rape by government security forces, points to a greater willingness to protect the perpetrators of sexual violence than to address the serious problem. The case—in which the two defendants initially received one-year prison terms, which were later overturned—has marred the credibility of the government’s reform agenda.
Somalia’s international partners contend that the new government represents real hope for the country’s future. But much will depend on the government’s ability to end impunity for abuses and establish the rule of law and respect for basic rights.
International donors should make clear that accountability for serious human rights abuses, including abuses committed by government forces, is crucial. To that end, the Somali government and its international donors should support both short- and long-term measures to address serious past and ongoing human rights abuses.
There is an immediate need for improved monitoring and reporting on human rights violations, protection concerns and diversion of assistance. Supporting an expansion of human rights monitoring and reporting by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is vital; the current UN review process on Somalia is a perfect opportunity to make this expansion a reality. Donors should also increase support for the UN Risk Management Unit and encourage UN agencies and nongovernmental organizations to collaborate with the unit. UN agencies with a protection mandate should give priority to programs that address the needs of the displaced communities. And the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator’s office should conduct, with the Somali government and other agencies, a Mogadishu-wide profiling exercise to identify and better respond to these needs prior to any future relocation.
Finally, addressing human rights abuses against the displaced and the Somali population generally means tackling longstanding impunity. The Somali government and its international partners should call for the establishment of a UN commission of inquiry—or a comparable, appropriate mechanism to document serious international crimes committed in Somalia—and recommend measures to improve accountability.
