Somalia's Children Under Attack

a c k “It was in 2009. A bomb fell on my house and the bricks fell on my son’s arm. Because of this bomb my other son lost part of his sight. Three of my children died in this bombing. They were 12, 10 and eight years old. My father and my mother were also killed in the same bombing.”

A woman who left Mogadishu in April 2010

Children and young people in southern and Children and young people are also central Somalia are under relentless attack. deliberately targeted. Children are increasingly Their lives are in constant danger and their recruited and used by armed groups, in hopes for the future have been shattered by particular the Islamist group al-Shabab. They armed conflict and grave human rights abuses. risk being killed if they refuse to join. r e b

In a country which has not had a functioning Children are not spared the floggings, m a K central government for 20 years, public amputations and executions that have / 8 4 services, the rule of law and respect for become a regular occurrence in the al- 6 0 - 9

human rights have been greatly undermined. Shabab controlled areas of Somalia. 0 0

But in the past four years the rights of children 2 Q H and young people – to life, food, water, A 14-year-old girl, who fled Baidoa in March Y N / basic medical care and education – have 2010 described one incident: F E C I

been flouted on an unprecedented scale. “We had to leave because of so many N U

problems and hardship as a result of the war © Children are dying in the conflict that has in Somalia. I was beaten up by al-Shabab engulfed southern and central Somalia, because of how I dressed. They wanted me killed or injured in attacks where no to wear heavy clothing and so they beat me distinction is made between civilians and with a cane. Two men beat me as I was combatants. Their families and friends lose coming from the market. They beat me four their lives when mortars and bullets are times and then I was able to run away.” fired in heavily populated urban areas. Their homes and schools are destroyed and their Children and young people who manage to teachers threatened. Many are separated flee to neighbouring countries are traumatized from their families during chaotic flights by their losses and their experiences, and from war zones. hampered by lack of education.

“I was living in Baidoa with my mother and “My son who sits in front of you had a my four brothers and sisters. My father died disabled hand before the bombing, but in an explosion a few months before. When since then one side of his body has become the fighting started many people fled Baidoa paralysed. He developed epilepsy and to a village outside the town. Al-Shabab stopped talking after the bombing.” then attacked the village. I escaped and hid A woman who left Mogadishu in April 2010 in the bush. This is when I lost my mother. I did not know where to go and I got lost. I Southern and central Somalia is gripped by

wanted to go back to Baidoa. I was fleeing a humanitarian emergency, in which h e m from town to town. People on the way were children’s very survival is threatened a s r helping me by giving me water and milk… because armed groups deny them access a W

Finally I ended up in Dadaab.” to humanitarian aid. This, coupled with d b A

A 14-year-old boy who arrived in the Dadaab refugee drought since late 2010, means that 2 h a r

camps, Kenya, in March 2010. a

million Somalis are in urgent need of aid, F / o t

according to the UN. o h P According to the World Health Organization, A P / children in Mogadishu accounted for almost P A

amnesty international July 2011 Index: AFR 52/002/2011 Above : Militia members cast shadows against a wall in central Somalia, 2009. Most of the country is under the control of militias such as al-Shabab. Left : Displaced children eating meals in a camp outside Mogadishu, Somalia, September 2009. According to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, 1.5 million Somalis were internally displaced in the country at the end of 2010.

Amnesty International delegates interviewed children and families fleeing the conflict in Somalia in March 2009, March 2010 and June 2010. Most, but not all, interviews took place in the Dadaab refugee camps in north-eastern Kenya and in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

Index: AFR 52/002/2011 amnesty international July 2011 “My husband and my five children were killed by a missile. It was one year ago [2008]. There was fighting between al-Shabab and the interim government and the Ethiopian troops. A mortar fell on the house. My children were three, four, five, six and nine years old. My grandmother, the housemaid and a visitor were also killed. I have one child left with me, he is 13.”

A woman from Mogadishu speaking to Amnesty International in March 2009 a long hiStory of conflict death from the SkieS Since the collapse of the Siad Barre Civilians have borne the brunt of the fighting government in 1991, southern and central in the past four years and children have not Somalia has been blighted by armed conflict been spared. Residents of Mogadishu have

based on clan rivalries, competition over suffered most, as the capital continues to h e m scarce resources, ideology and criminal be the main battleground, but civilians in a s r activity. After years of conflict between other towns have also been caught up in a W

i d

competing warlords, the Islamic Courts Union sporadic clashes. In January 2010, fighting b A

(ICU) took effective control of the capital between armed Islamist groups and the h a r a

Mogadishu and other cities in June 2006. Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa (ASWJ) in the towns F / o t

Ethiopia intervened militarily in December of Dhusamareb in central Somalia and o h P

2006 to oust the ICU and to restore to power Beletweyne in the Hiran region caused the A P / the internationally recognized Transitional displacement of tens of thousands. In P A

Federal Government (TFG), formed in 2004 October 2010, fighting between pro-TFG © at a national reconciliation conference. forces and al-Shabab in Belet Hawo, on the border with Kenya, forced some 60,000 Ethiopian and TFG troops fought against people to flee from their homes. armed opposition groups, including al- Shabab. Tens of thousands of civilians were Between 2007 and early 2009, civilians in killed and injured while hundreds of Mogadishu were bombarded by shells, thousands were displaced. In January 2009, heavy artillery and mortars fired in densely following the UN-sponsored Djibouti peace populated areas by the Ethiopian armed process, the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops forces, TFG forces and armed opposition and the appointment of a new President, groups. The attacks were often Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, gave rise to indiscriminate – no efforts were made to hopes that civilians’ lives would improve. protect the civilian population – and disproportionate – although aimed at These hopes were dashed by renewed military targets their effects on civilians armed conflict. In May 2009 armed outweighed any military advantage. opposition groups in Mogadishu launched an offensive against the TFG and the Such attacks have continued since the African Union Mission in Somalia, AMISOM, departure of the Ethiopian troops. Armed a UN-authorized peace support mission. groups typically launch attacks from Cities across southern and central Somalia residential areas towards TFG and AMISOM also witnessed sporadic fighting. The TFG bases, endangering civilians. AMISOM and r o N

now controls only part of the capital TFG forces are reported to have fired h k i e

Mogadishu, while vast areas of southern mortars and heavy weapons indiscriminately h S

Somalia are under the control of al-Shabab. in response. d e m a h o M / o t o h P

A P / P A

amnesty international July 2011 Index: AFR 52/002/2011 CoMplex ARRAy oF wARRINg pARtIeS the tFg military and police are made up of members of previous tFg forces and members of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed’s armed group, which was formerly in opposition to the government. pro-government forces also include the ASwJ, a Sufi group which took up arms against al-Shabab in late 2008 following al-Shabab’s desecration of Sufi graves in central Somalia. the ASwJ signed an agreement with the tFg in 2010, formalizing a military alliance and recognizing the armed group’s de facto authority in parts of central Somalia. However, the ASwJ has since accused the tFg of not respecting the agreement. the two main armed Islamist groups opposing the tFg are al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam, which have allied against the tFg but have also engaged in fighting against each other. Hizbul Islam merged with al-Shabab in December 2010. groups on both sides of the conflict often overlap, forge or shift alliances, or split. AMISoM, the African Union peace support operation, has at least 8,000 troops from Uganda and Burundi and is present in Mogadishu. It is tasked with providing protection to the transitional Federal Institutions and security for key infrastructure. Since ethiopian troops left in January 2009, AMISoM has been increasingly drawn into the armed conflict.

Above : Children run past the body of a man in Mogadishu, May 2009. Witnessing violence can have long-lasting and damaging effects on children’s mental health and wellbeing. Left : A Somali woman and children walk past a makeshift home in Mogadishu, June 2009, after fleeing fighting in the city.

Index: AFR 52/002/2011 amnesty international July 2011 generalized violence In 2010, al-Shabab reportedly banned some Children describe their fears of being hit at text books and English teaching in schools in any time: at night in their homes, when they the town of Afmadow. In some areas, they walk in the streets, when they are buying discourage girls from attending school. food at the market, on their way to or from school. Many parents have stopped their A 14-year-old girl from Baidoa said: children from going to school because of “Sometimes al-Shabab would come to our the dangers. school and cane the students and beat the teachers. They even killed one of our A 15-year-old child from Mogadishu teachers. We were told to get out of school explained: and that we should not be studying here. “Two of my brothers died. Abdullahi was 18 That time I had to run all the way back e t a

and Ahmed 14. It was in February 2010. home. It was a male teacher who was killed. v i r P They were going to Bakara market, fighting They shot him dead.” © broke out, they were caught up in the middle, and they died in the crossfire. After the fighting stopped, we ran to the market familieS torn apart to collect their bodies.” The unpredictable fighting has caused the displacement of countless civilians in chaotic circumstances. Many children are education Shut down separated from their parents and relatives A 12-year-old boy from Mogadishu described as a result, which deprives them of his schools being bombed: protection and support. “My primary school was far away in Bakara, I had to take the bus. The school closed Several thousand Somali refugees make after fighting started, it was bombed, their way to the Dadaab refugee camps in teachers died inside the school, it was in Kenya every month. Aid workers there say February 2006. I had many friends who died that the number of unaccompanied and were injured that day but I wasn’t at children arriving at the camps is rising. school… After that I went to a private school Children are often absorbed by other Somali in Bakara. Also a bomb exploded there, six families of the same clan, or temporarily people died and three were injured, all were adopted by neighbours. Unaccompanied pupils from the ages of seven to 14. This children in the Dadaab refugee camps are happened in June or July 2009.” placed in foster care, but they are more

likely to have to perform domestic labour, h e m

Al-Shabab has restricted the right to more vulnerable to abuse and less likely to a s r education in southern and central Somalia. be sent to school. a W

In most areas there are no schools, d b A

although many children attend duksi A 16-year-old unaccompanied child in h a r a

(Koranic schools). According to UNICEF’s Dadaab described the precariousness of F / o t

State of the World’s Children , only 23 per his position: o h P cent of children in southern and central “If you’re not living with your parents, you A P /

Somalia receive primary education. can be told to leave the house at any time.” P A

amnesty international July 2011 Index: AFR 52/002/2011 Above : Somali children’s right to education has been increasingly eroded over the past 20 years. Now there are no schools operating in large areas of Somalia. Here children study the Koran in a site for internally displaced people some 20km from Mogadishu, April 2008. Left : Women and children flee fighting between Somali government forces and Islamic fighters, Mogadishu, July 2009.

wHo IS A CHIlD? Article 1 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child defines children as everyone under the age of 18, unless in national law a person becomes an adult at an earlier age. Although Somalia is one of only two countries in the world that have not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 2004 transitional Federal Charter prohibits forced labour or military service for children under 18. It also bans the imprisonment of children under 18 in the same prison as adults.

Index: AFR 52/002/2011 amnesty international July 2011 child SoldierS “They came during assembly to school and TFG forces and the ASWJ have also been Conscripting or enlisting children under the told teachers that they wanted to inform accused of recruiting and using children in age of 15 into armed forces or groups, or children that they should go with them and the conflict. In June 2010, after media using them to participate actively in fight. Even though children refused to go, coverage of child soldiers at a TFG hostilities, is a war crime. they still took some away. My mother checkpoint, TFG President Sheikh Sharif refused to let me go and fight… Sheikh Ahmed ordered an investigation into Somali refugees report that recruitment of the use of child soldiers by its armed forces. children is widespread, mainly by armed “There was a time when they beat us at The investigation’s findings are still not groups opposed to the TFG. In certain school. There were 20 of us who were beaten available. A Somali journalist who worked areas, local al-Shabab leaders reportedly with a leather cane. Sometimes in assembly on the story had to flee temporarily for fear target young men, but in others, particularly they would ask that people not supporting of arrest. in Mogadishu, Kismayo, Brava and Baidoa, them raise their hands. If you didn’t support children are specifically targeted for forced them then they would beat you… Although boys and young men are the main recruitment. recruitment targets of the armed groups, “They tried to make my brother go and fight girls are sometimes recruited. A girl, who One woman told Amnesty International with them while he was in school. He was 19 when Amnesty International in 2010: refused and so they went to my house to try interviewed her in March 2010, said: “My son was taken from our village by al- and force him but he still refused. My “Al-Shabab have a volunteers’ office where Shabab to one of their training camps. He mother stayed silent. They ended up taking you get called to. Sometimes they give you was held in a training camp for two weeks my brother when he was 14 years old in money. The girls are forced to cook and with other boys of his age. He is just 10 2009. We have had no news about him but carry water for them. Each village controlled years old. They used other children to lure my sister saw him once in a vehicle with by them has a volunteers’ office.” my son into joining them.” many other children.” A mother told Amnesty International: “One of the major issues that affect girls is recruitment methodS uSe of child SoldierS early marriage. This happens mostly with al- Several children have reported that armed Children are used by armed groups to fight, Shabab and Hizbul Islam. Parents generally groups come into schools and homes to to collect intelligence and to place bombs in won’t force you but al-Shabab or Hizbul recruit children. Children and parents are the streets. Some have been used to Islam will kill you if you refuse.” threatened with reprisals if they do not enforce al-Shabab’s strict interpretation of agree to join up – many families have fled Islamic law. One refugee described a boy Girls are sometimes forcibly married to Somalia to save their children from being flogging women and girls who were not combatants. The extent of sexual violence is recruited by armed groups. wearing the hijab (Islamic headscarf). difficult to assess, because it is under- reported. A 13-year-old girl from Baidoa told A 13-year-old boy who fled Mogadishu in Three brothers who left Mogadishu in 2007 Amnesty International: April 2010 said: told Amnesty International that some “Girls were also being raped by al-Shabab. I “Al-Shabab were fighting and they even children were used as suicide bombers: know people to whom this happened – came to my school and tried to make us “People would tie a bomb to their bodies and someone in my family was raped but I can’t join them… If a mother insists that her they would be told to go to the TFG centres tell you about it. It is quite common.” son won’t go and fight, they will kill her or and then the bomb would explode. This beat her. happened to our friend Hussein who was 16 years old. Al-Shabab made him do this.”

amnesty international July 2011 Index: AFR 52/002/2011 e t a v i r P

Above : Somali children playing war games, Mogadishu, August 2008. An entire generation has known nothing but conflict. Left : Internally displaced Somali children wait with containers in hand to receive food aid at a food distribution centre in Mogadishu, January 2010. More than 2 million Somalis are in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.

wHo IS A CHIlD SolDIeR? A child soldier is any person under 18 years of age who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children used as fighters, cooks, porters, spies or for sexual

r purposes. It does not only refer to a child o N who is taking, or has taken, a direct part in h k i e hostilities. h S d e m a h o M / o t o h P

A P / P A

Index: AFR 52/002/2011 amnesty international July 2011 targeted abuSeS people without reason. They use whips Anyone thought to be linked to the TFG is at made out of tyres. We have to pay taxes to high risk of being killed, abducted, tortured al-Shabab when we get our harvest. They or threatened by armed Islamist groups. Many cut my [relative]’s hand because he refused children have lost their parents in this way. to give some of his harvest to them. They tied his hands and took him away. The next A 17-year-old boy from Baidoa, who fled day they brought him to the centre of the Somalia in March 2010, recounted: village. They cut his right hand with a knife.” “The Islamist militia killed my father in 2009. This was just after the Ethiopian The armed Islamist groups also punish troops left. My father was a TFG soldier. He children. was 60. One night, at around 8pm, when he was at home sleeping, they came in, took A 17-year-old girl from Mogadishu him outside and killed him. They targeted described one incident: r o

my dad because he was from the TFG. “It was in January 2010. I was with some N

h k

They were four people, carrying pistols; they girls on the way to school and we were i e h were our neighbours. Nobody knew before asked by al-Shabab which group we S

d that they were part of al-Shabab. First they supported. We kept silent. They beat us e m a h

told my dad that they wanted to have a with canes and then we were able to o M / discussion with him but outside. My dad continue walking.” o t o agreed and then they shot him. They had h P

A threatened him before but at that time my On 27 October 2010, two teenage girls were P / P A dad had already withdrawn from the TFG. A publicly shot dead by al-Shabab in lot of neighbours working for the TFG were Beletweyne. They were accused of spying. © killed like this.”

Throughout 2009 and 2010, there were denial of aid Al-Shabab has also imposed “taxes” on aid increased reports of public killings, Al-Shabab has severely restricted organizations and on civilians, farmers and amputations and floggings by armed humanitarian access in most of southern businesses. opposition groups of people accused of theft or and central Somalia, putting civilians and sexual offences. Some of these punishments particularly children at risk. According to A 25-year-old woman with three children were ordered by quasi-judicial bodies operated UNICEF, one in six children there is acutely to support said: by local leaders linked to armed groups. malnourished. Restrictions include banning “I left Somalia and my farm because the UN and international agencies from working farm could not support us. We had to give Many people have been punished because in areas under al-Shabab’s control and so many of our products to al-Shabab. We they were suspected of opposing al-Shabab arbitrarily closing down Somali were living in Jamame… They came to the or refused to comply with their orders. Often organizations, sometimes accusing them of house and they took everything. They didn’t punishments are imposed in public, to spying for the international community. harm me but they just looted us. My intimidate the civilian population and assert children had no food and then we had to control over territory. The World Food Programme was banned in walk for three days to Kismayo... We were early 2010. Despite an impending drought helped by some people and then we A child who fled the area of Sako in the in 2011, al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam managed to board a vehicle and come middle Juba region in April 2010 said: officials publicly declared that aid agencies to the refugee camps.” “Al-Shabab has controlled the village for two would not be allowed in the areas under years. Life was very difficult. They punish their control.

amnesty international July 2011 Index: AFR 52/002/2011 enduring trauma “I am absent minded because of the fear Above : A member of al-Shabab flogs a youth in All the Somalis who spoke to Amnesty I had in Somalia. There is no support for front of a crowd of around 100 onlookers International delegates had experienced traumatized people here. It would be good immediately after an Islamic court convicted him the fear of living under constant fighting, the to get advice as to how people can forget of a serious crime, Mogadishu, March 2009. loss of a relative or a friend, or had seen about the pain.” someone being killed or tortured. According to humanitarian workers in Dadaab, Somali refugees often suffer from nightmares, post- a loSt generation traumatic stress disorder, anger, epilepsy Twenty years of war and recent restrictions All the children who spoke to Amnesty and mental illnesses. on schools have resulted in a whole International’s delegates said they wanted generation of children who lack education. to be educated, to have a chance to find The lack of psycho-social care in the employment, improve their lives and live refugee camps is compounded by cultural Humanitarian workers in refugee camps in dignity. norms that stigmatize those with mental say that it is very difficult to integrate these illnesses. A woman who lost five children children into the host country’s schools. Many and her husband when a mortar fell on her teenagers have to attend primary schools house in Mogadishu said: because of their low level of education.

Index: AFR 52/002/2011 amnesty international July 2011 n i e t s k c o H

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© a legacy of impunity Despite the nature and scale of the human rights abuses committed in Somalia, take action to help Somali children including war crimes, near total impunity continues to reign. Addressing You can take action to help Somali children. Please call on your Minister of accountability for war crimes and other Foreign Affairs to help improve children’s lives and stop human rights violations. human rights abuses is essential to improve the protection of children and their human Please ask the Minister to: rights in Somalia.  End the supply of arms to Somalia’s  Provide adequate funding for Somali As one child told Amnesty International: warring parties that are likely to be used in children’s education and for medical and “There is so much recruitment of children committing war crimes and serious human psychological care in refugee camps, by Al-Shabab. They do this because they rights abuses; settlements for the internally displaced think that no one will investigate them.” and other areas.  Request the United Nations to establish Above : Children race against each other outside an independent Commission of Inquiry to Ifo camp in Dadaab, Kenya, December 2008. investigate crimes under international law The camps at Dadaab are home to some committed in Somalia, including grave 300,000 refugees, mostly Somalis. abuses against children, and to make Front cover : Wounded children are carried to a recommendations to address impunity; clinic – a mortar shell landed on their house in Mogadishu, Somalia, 29 July 2009.

amnesty international is a global movement of more than 3 million Index: AFR 52/002/2011 supporters, members and activists in more than 150 countries and english territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights. July 2011 Amnesty International our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the International Secretariat Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human peter Benenson House rights standards. 1 easton Street london wC1x 0Dw we are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest United Kingdom or religion and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations. amnesty.org