Reports

“It’s Like We’re Always in a Prison”

Abuses Against Boys Accused of National Security Offenses in Somalia

This report details due process violations and other abuses since 2015 against boys in government custody for suspected Al-Shabab-related offenses. Somalia’s federal government has promised to promptly hand over captured children to the United Nations child protection agency (UNICEF) for rehabilitation. But the response of Somalia’s national and regional authorities has been inconsistent and at times violated international human rights law. The government’s capture of 36 children from Al-Shabab on January 18, 2018 required a week of negotiations involving the UN and child protection advocates to work out procedures for dealing with them.

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  • Hostile Shores

    Abuse and Refoulement of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Yemen

    This report documents the harsh treatment of refugees traveling to Yemen and calls on the Yemeni government to stop systematically arresting Ethiopian asylum seekers and forcibly returning them home.

  • "Hostages to Peace"

    Threats to Human Rights and Democracy in Somaliland

    This 56-page report says that Somaliland's government has helped create a measure of stability and democratic governance even as Somalia has remained mired in armed conflict. But Somaliland's gains are fragile and currently under threat.

  • From Horror to Hopelessness

    Kenya’s Forgotten Somali Refugee Crisis

    This 58-page report documents the extortion, detention, violence, and deportation at the hands of the Kenyan police faced by a record number of Somalis entering Kenya. The new refugees are joining over a quarter of a million fellow refugees struggling to survive in camps designed for one-third that number.

  • "So Much to Fear"

    War Crimes and the Devastation of Somalia

    The 104-page report, "So Much to Fear: War Crimes and the Devastation of Somalia," describes how the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the Ethiopian forces that intervened in Somalia to support it and insurgent forces have committed widespread and serious violations of the laws of war.

  • "Why Am I Still Here?"

    The 2007 Horn of Africa Renditions and the Fate of Those Still Missing

    This 54-page report examines the 2007 rendition operation, during which at least 90 men, women, and children fleeing the armed conflict in Somalia were unlawfully rendered from Kenya to Somalia, and then on to Ethiopia.

  • Collective Punishment

    War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia’s Somali Region

    This 130-page report documents a dramatic rise in unchecked violence against civilians since June 2007, when the Ethiopian army launched a counterinsurgency campaign against rebels who attacked a Chinese-run oil installation.

  • Down to Business

    The Human Rights Council’s Backlog of Work

    As it enters its second year, the Council must take hold of the many situations that “require the HRC’s attention,” and take action of some sort to address them. The HRC’s efforts to address these situations will provide an important indication of its ability to fulfil the purpose for which it was created.

  • Shell-Shocked

    Civilians Under Siege in Mogadishu

    This 113-page report is the first independent, on-the-ground investigation of the fighting that wracked Mogadishu in March and April 2007, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and the displacement of 400,000 people.

  • Off the Record

    U.S. Responsibility for Enforced Disappearances in the “War on Terror”

    This 21-page briefing paper, published by six leading human rights organizations, includes the names and details of 39 people who are believed to have been held in secret US custody abroad and whose current whereabouts remain unknown.

  • Policy Paralysis

    A Call for Action on HIV/AIDS-Related Human Rights Abuses Against Women and Girls in Africa

    Violence and discrimination against women and girls is fueling Africa's AIDS crisis. African governments must make gender equality a central part of national AIDS programs if they are to succeed in fighting the epidemic.

  • Somalia Faces the Future

    Human Rights in a Fragmented Society

    The departure of the last U.N. troops of the Somalia operation in March 1995 marks a critical juncture for Somalia, and for international peacekeeping. In researching this report, we set out to discover what would be left behind when the U.N.

  • Seeking Refuge, Finding Terror

    The Widespread Rape of Somali Women Refugees in North Eastern Kenya

    While the tragedy in Somalia made daily news, the plight of thousands of refugees in neighboring Kenya remains unpublicized. Since 1992, approximately 300,000 Somalis have fled across the 800 mile Kenya-Somali border, most of them women and children.

  • Somalia: Beyond the Warlords

    The Need for a Verdict on Human Rights Abuses

    While the deployment of a large international military force in Somalia has produced a dramatic improvement in the ability of relief agencies to reverse the terrible famine that was causing massive death among civilians, it does not adequately address the underlying causes of the destruction of Somalia's social fabric that

  • Somalia: No Mercy in Mogadishu

    The Human Cost of the Conflict & The Struggle for Relief

    "The worst humanitarian disaster in the world today," were the words used to describe Somalia by Andrew Natsios, the former director of the U.S.