Somalia

Africa

Endorsements

Safe Schools Declaration

Endorsed in 2015

Paris Principles

Endorsed

Vancouver Principles

Not Endorsed

EWIPA Declaration

Endorsed

Relevant UN Resolutions
GCPEA Education Under Attack

Profiled in GCPEA Education Under Attack

Profiled in: 2022, 2020, 2018, 2014

Other Important Information
Memberships in International Regional Organizations
Peacekeeping

Is not a peacekeeping contributing country

Key Information

Key information about the country.

Advocacy Meetings

Chronological recap of the engagement with this state or any other relevant information that can support advocacy.

Participated in Addis workshop.

February 2017: Confidential update from AMISOM Child Protection Officer, Musa Gbow, to Dragica, Watchlist: “I am aware that some AMISOM troops continue to occupy the Masla University but they have begun the process of vacating that campus. There are plans for the AU to renovate it before it could be returned to the government. This is yet to be done and the longer it takes the more children continue to be deprived of the needed education. There is therefore the need for more advocacy and funds mobilization to support AMISOM to vacate and renovate the university.”

July 2017: AMISOM vacated the Somali National University and returned control of the facility to the authorities in a handover ceremony, which was presided over by Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Somalia, and the Minister of Education, Deputy Minister of Finance, and the Deputy Governor. Also in attendance were representatives of OCHA, UNICEF, civil society and other government officials. Prior to the handing over, the UN Support Office in Somalia supported the clearance of all unexploded ordnance and cleaned the buildings that had been occupied by the troops. Significant refurbishment is required, but the university director announced that classes would resume in September 2017. This is the third education facility now handed over to the Federal Government of Somalia since the beginning of 2017. Human Rights Watch issued a dispatch highlighting the handover, and calling on the African Union to adopt rules aimed at ending all military use of schools. The dispatch was further shared by All Africa. UNICEF issued a press release welcoming the handover, which highlighted the need for education facilities to be disassociated from military use.

September 2017 UNSC: GCPEA sent a letter to the ambassador in New York asking to raise the issue on attacks and military use, draw attention to the Declaration and the Guidelines and also to mention the AU call to endorse during the Open Debate on children and armed conflict.

February 2018: The Somalia Ministry of Defense contacted GCPEA to express their interest in working on implementation of the Declaration. GCPEA replied to share updates and advise that key GCPEA tools are under translation to Somali.

July 2018: Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018).

November 2018: GCPEA conducted its first technical implementation visit which took place in Somalia from November 12-15. The purpose of the visit was to catalyse gender-sensitive implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration and the Guidelines. The visit included consultation with more than 60 representatives of national and international organisations, and civil society organisations to raise awareness of the Safe Schools Declaration, and equip participants to advocate for implementation of the commitments. UNICEF, the Education and Child Protection Clusters, and Save the Children Somalia supported the organisation, presented on their efforts to address attacks on and military use of schools, and contributed to the discussions. The visits will also include a training aimed at operationalising the GCPEA-Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative toolkit to guide understanding and implementation of the Guidelines. The training, facilitated the Dallaire Initiative, gathered members of the Somali armed forces, police, representatives of the African Union Mission in Somalia, and the relevant Ministries. As part of the visit, GCPEA met with the Ministries of Defense, Education, Culture and Higher Education, Women and Human Rights Development, and Religious Affairs to raise awareness across the Somali government of their commitment to implement relevant aspects of the Declaration and the Guidelines, including through follow-up on an action plan.

March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva: joined Norway’s joint statement on the Safe Schools Declaration.

May 2019: Participated in the Third International Conference in Palma.

September 2019: Save the Children Somalia, together with the East and Southern Africa Regional Office held a sensitization workshop for civil society and federal and state level ministries to share good practice and develop an action plan for implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration in Somalia. GCPEA gave a presentation by Skype to help link the national efforts in Somalia to global Safe Schools Declaration work on implementation. During the workshop, the following priorities were identified: awareness-raising on the use of the Guidelines, conflict-sensitive approaches to education, establishment of a Safe Schools Declaration Civil Society Working Group, awareness-raising at the community level on attacks on education, and advocacy for accountability for perpetrators of attacks.

February 2020: In the lead up to CRC review of Somalia, several organizations including Save the Children (Somalia and Norway country offices); SOS Childrens Villages, Human Rights Watch, and UNICEF Somalia are engaging the Committee through a civil society task team. During the pre-sessional Working Group held in February 2020, a private meeting with NGOs was held with a view to provide input to the “list of issues”. Save the Children Somalia reported that the CRC members were very interested in the implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration at the national level. GCPEA Secretariat and Save the Children Somalia discussed the positive developments on implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration at national level, including the establishment of the Safe Schools Declaration Task Force. The Secretariat commended the work done by Save the Children and shared the report from GCPEA’s 2018 visit in order to build synergies on concrete recommendations for deeper implementation. The opportunity to include some of GCPEA recommendations in a future Action Plan on implementation for the Task Force was discussed.

April 2020: The Children and armed conflict in Somalia Report of the Secretary-General paints an alarming picture about attacks on education from 1 August 2016 to 30 September 2019. Attacks on schools increased between 2017 and 2018 due to the continued targeting of schools and education personnel by Al-Shabaab as a tactic for recruitment, including through abductions of children and teachers from schools and madrasas during these years. In addition, the country task force verified the military use of three schools.

Oct 2020: As part of the advocacy activities to disseminate Education Under Attack findings, GCPEA made a submission ahead of the Universal Periodic Review of Somalia. The reviews is scheduled in May 2021.

February 2021: GCPEA input ahead of the UPR country review was included in the compilation of stakeholder submissions here

October 2021: cosponsored UNSRC2601.

February 2022: Save the Children Country Office in Somalia is working to organise a Capacity building Training for Government representative, AMISOM and SNA, on the Declaration and the Guidelines.

August 2022: The Safe Schools Policy is in the final stage. The Somalia’s Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education held the last consultation meeting to validate the policy on 8 August 2022. The meeting was attended by education stakeholders and donors to review the policy and gave them useful comments and suggestions. The Ministry should validate the policy very shortly.

November 2022: Endorsed the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) on 18 November during an International Conference hosted by Ireland, the leader and penholder behind the Declaration.
March 2017: Attended Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools and provided a speaker – third secretary from Geneva mission.

March 2017: UNAMA organized a workshop in Mazar, Afghanistan, aimed at finding ways to prevent the recruitment of children by armed groups. The workshop included sessions outlining international legal instruments including the SSD, which Afghanistan endorsed in 2015.

May 2017: Human Rights Watch issued a letter to all NATO member states about civilian protection in Afghanistan, asking them to help Afghanistan to stop using schools in light of their shared commitments under the Declaration.

September 2017 UNSC: GCPEA sent a letter to the Ambassador of Afghanistan in New York asking to raise issue of attacks and military use and to draw attention to the Declaration and Guidelines during the Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict.

October 2017: Human Rights Watch issued a report on barriers to access to education for girls in Afghanistan, together with a new animation video, highlighting many of these barriers, including attacks on students and military use of schools.

March 2018: During the Annual Day on the Rights of the Child, 5 March: Afghanistan highlighted their support for the Declaration in their national statement.

May 2018: In its monthly update for May, Watchlist called on Afghanistan to implementation the Declaration.

July 2018: Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018).

August 2018: Norwegian Refugee Council issued a report, Educational Sites in Afghanistan are Changing from Bastions of Hope and Safety into Spaces of Fear, Armed Conflict and Politics. According to the report, schools in Afghanistan are increasingly becoming military, ideological, and political battlegrounds. “28 per cent of surveyed children and parents stated that schools in their places of origin had been closed due to the conflict. NRC found that the majority of surveyed children do not feel safe at school, with many boys and girls terrified that their school would be attacked. 12 per cent had experienced attacks on their school and 15 per cent experienced shooting very near to their school building. Many had missed exams or periods of school, either because of threats from armed actors, or because they or their parents believed that the school would be targeted. 36 per cent of the children were frightened about risks of kidnap or attack en route to school.” The report also refers to NRC Afghanistan’s new 2018-2020 Protection Strategy which will focus partly on protecting education and operationalizing the Safe Schools Declaration.

November 2018: GCPEA has been working with Save the Children to prepare a briefing paper on attacks on education in Afghanistan that will be released on November 26, ahead of the Geneva Ministerial Conference on Afghanistan that will take place in Geneva on November 27-28.

November 2018: GCPEA released Attacks on Education in Afghanistan briefing paper to coincide with the Geneva Ministerial Conference on Afghanistan, where the Afghan Government and the international community will gather to discuss strategies for achieving peace and development in the country.

March 2019: mentioned their endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration during the Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva. Joined Norway’s joint statement on the Safe Schools Declaration.

May 2019: Participated in the Third International Conference in Palma.

December 2019: HRW made a submission to CEDAW: https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/12/23/submission-committee-elimination-discrimination-against-women-review-afghanistan.

April 2020: the Safe Schools Declaration was referenced by the Working Group in connection with the examination of the fourth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Afghanistan (document S/2019/727).

March 2020: the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has now made its first reference to the Guidelines for Protecting Schools from Military Used during Armed Conflict, in its concluding observations regarding Afghanistan

Oct 2020: GCPEA Director attended a joint virtual meeting which brought together the Group of Friends of Afghanistan in New York, Group of Friends of Children and Armed Conflict in New York, and the Group of Friends of Children and Armed Conflict in Kabul, Afghanistan. In her intervention, Diya highlighted that attacks against students and education personnel accelerated dramatically during 2017-2019 and gave concrete recommendations to strengthen implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration.

Examples of Good Practice

What, if anything, the country has done to protect education and/or implement any of the 8 commitments outlined in the Declaration.

Commitment 1

In 2017, in the context of implementing the Declaration, AMISOM handed a number of educational buildings back to the authorities, including the Somali National University. Prior to the handover, the UN Support Office in Somalia supported the clearance of all unexploded ordnance and rehabilitated the buildings that had been occupied by the troops.

Somalia is currently developing a safe schools declaration policy. Save the Children sent us the draft document (saved in file) – 2022.

There is a interministerial committee on the SSD.

The Safe Schools Policy is in the final stage (dec 2022). The Somalia’s Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education held the last consultation meeting to validate the policy on 8 August 2022. The meeting was attended by education stakeholders and donors to review the policy and gave them useful comments and suggestions. The Ministry should validate the policy very shortly.

Save the Children trained Somalia National Army and AMISOM troops (African Union Peace Keeping Mission personnel) on the SSD. It was a 2 days capacity building training for 10 Somalia National Army personnel, 3 Ministry of Defense Child Protection/Human Rights Staff and 6 AMISOM troops who are responsible of designing frontline Missions and troop deployments. This happened in February 2022, but we received this information in February 2023.

Commitment 2

None

 

Commitment 3

None

Commitment 4

None

Commitment 5

None

Commitment 6

Education Development Center’s (EDC) Somali Interactive Radio Instruction Program provided consistent broadcast of education programs on literacy, numeracy, life skills, health, and conflict prevention between 2005 and 2011. Broadcasts were transmitted three hours a day for up to five days a week on FM band to the common household radio, potentially reaching over 300,000 children. With the interactive radio instruction broadcasts, local teachers led classes. Simultaneously, teachers were trained in interactive teaching methods such as activities, stories, and songs that could be broadcast via radio. Following the program’s closure in 2011, EDC signed licensing agreements with the Ministries of Education for Somaliland, Puntland, South Central (Federal), and with other NGOs allowing them to continue to use the program and materials. According to the EDC, these Ministries continue to implement the program.

Commitment 7

None

Commitment 8

In November 2018, GCPEA conducted a training on operationalizing the Guidelines in Mogadishu. The training, facilitated by the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, gathered members of the Somali armed forces, police, representatives of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and relevant Ministries. Several tools, including case studies on protection of education from attack and military use, were prepared by the Dallaire Initiative in advance of the training.

National Action Plan or Technical Committee on the SSD

Not established

Relevant Contacts

Contact information of the representatives of Permanent Missions, national Ministries, and focal points for the State-led Implementation Network.

Geneva Missions

General Email(s):
Genevamission@mfa.gov.so | genevasomalia@gmail.com

Other Contacts:
None

New York Missions

General Email(s):
somalia@un.int

Other Contacts:
None

State-led Implementation Network

cpusecretariatco@mod.gov.so
Mursal Bulle Mohamed
CPU.MoD Secretariat Coordinator
Child Protection Unit
Ministry of Defense (MoD)
Location: Somalia

sagaleeya12@gmail.com
Sagal Adan Ali
Ministry of education, Culture and Higher Education (MoE)
Location: Somalia

binabdalla45@gmail.com
Mohamed Farah
Ministry of education, Culture and Higher Education (MoE)
Location: Somalia
Spain training 2023

juwerria.abdullahi@gmail.com
Juwerria Ismail Abdullahi
Ministry of education, Culture and Higher Education (MoE)
Location: Somalia
Spain training 2023