Kismayo IDPs face hunger, drug shortages

The plight of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Somalia’s southern port city of Kismayo, controlled by Al-Shabab insurgents, has deteriorated, with thousands facing a food crisis after supply routes were blocked, and drug shortages as patient numbers increase, locals said.

This report online: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=94507

Somali refugees, asylum-seekers returning home

Somalis are slowly returning back home after twenty years of absence following the ouster of Siad Baree from the top leadership of Somalia that lead to an all-out civil war that has now lasted for more than two decades.

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Source: Press TV

Refugees waiting “10 weeks” for full food rations

Somali children arriving at the world’s largest refugee camp are having to wait up to 10 weeks before they are registered for full food rations thanks to Kenyan government red tape, aid agencies have warned.

Read full article here

Source: Telegraph

Time for immediate action on famine – UN

(IRIN) – The humanitarian crisis in Somalia has degenerated into a famine in two regions and could get worse because respite from drought, a major cause of the crisis, which is compounded by insecurity, lack of aid and food price inflation, is unlikely until December or January 2012, the UN warned.

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Strasbourg allows Somali test case

Source: Free Movement

The cases of Sufi and Elmi v UK (Applications nos. 8319/07 and 11449/07) have been allowed by the European Court of Human Rights. This is a major judgment on return to Somalia and the conditions there. The press release can be found here and the judgment here (Word version here, BAILII version here).

In summary, the Court holds that conditions in Mogadishu breach Article 3 for virtually everyone, although there might conceivably be some people with high level connections that would be safe (para 250). For most, and certainly for those who have been outside Somalia for a long time, return to Mogadishu is therefore unsafe.

The Court also finds that it might be possible for a returnee to relocate to another, safer part of Somalia from the airport (para 271). This depends on the area, and the Court was not able to make findings on every bit of Somalia. Evidence will therefore be required in individual cases. However, the Court then goes on to eliminate the possibility of relocating for many individuals by finding that any returnee who has been outside Somalia for a long time cannot relocate to (or through) areas controlled by the al Shabaab group (para 277). Al Shabaab control large areas of Somalia.

The Court holds that conditions in refugee and Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps are in breach of Article 3 and it is therefore not possible to return a person who would have to relocate to such a camp. The approach of the Court in MSS v Belgium and Greece is preferred in this context to that in N v UK because the situation arises from the actions of parties to the conflict in Somalia, not from simple lack of resources (para 283).

Interesting other findings include that a fresh claim was an inadequate alternative remedy for the claimants in this case (para 207-08), that the failure to apply for reconsideration in one of the cases, on legal advice, did not mean that that claimant had failed to exhaust all domestic remedies (para 209), that the report of the fact finding mission to Kenya is worthless because it is impossible to evaluate the quality or reliability of the sources used (para 234), and that Article 3 of the ECHR broadly incorporates the type of harm envisaged by Article 15(c) of the EU’s Qualification Directive (para 226).

This latter finding is interesting and perhaps problematic for the future, given that in the Qualification Directive cases advocates have argued that Article 15(c) must add something to Article 3 ECHR otherwise it is redundant. Article 15(b) specifically incorporates the language of Article 3 ECHR, so what would be the purpose of the additional language of Article 15(c)? It seems unlikely to happen in practice but there is a possibility of a ‘virtuous circle’ (depending on one’s standpoint, of course) of constantly improving standards of protection, as Article 15(c) QD is argued to be more generous than Article 3 ECHR, then Article 3 ECHR catches up, then Article 15(c) QD becomes more generous again and so on.

Both claimants succeeded in this case on their individual facts.

Life after Somalia

A combination of ongoing conflict, coupled with the devastating effect of the drought, has meant that thousands of people are fleeing Somalia for the Kenyan town of Dadaab.

By the time they’ve reached the refugee camps they are exhausted, weak and hungry. Most will have made the arduous journey on foot, through boiling hot sand and harsh shrub.

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Source: Save the Children

Thousands trapped between conflict and drought in Galgadud

(IRIN) – Thousands of families in Somalia’s central town of Dusamareb, the regional capital of Galgadud, are caught between an unending conflict and severe drought.

This report online: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=92593

2010 Human Rights Reports: Somalia

Somalia* has an estimated population of seven million. The territory, which was recognized as the Somali state from 1960 to 1991, fragmented into regions led in whole or in part by three distinct entities: the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu, the self-declared Republic of Somaliland in the northwest, and the semiautonomous region of Puntland in the northeast. The TFG was formed in late 2004, with a five-year transitional mandate to establish permanent, representative governmental institutions and organize national elections. In January 2009an expanded Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP), established under the internationally backed Djibouti Peace Process (DPP), extended the TFG’s mandate until August 2011 and elected Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as TFG president. The DPP stalled in 2009 as the government came under pressure from armed extremist groups and the TFG’s top leadership engaged in political infighting.

Full report

UNHCR concerned over allegations of Somali mercenaries

(IRIN) – The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says it is concerned by opposition media reports alleging the Yemen government is recruiting Somali refugees as mercenaries to help put down a growing protest movement demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

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A crisis in numbers

(IRIN) – One in three people in Somalia needs humanitarian assistance as a severe water crisis, linked to the La Niña weather phenomenon, takes hold across much of the country after failed seasonal Deyr rains and amid continuing armed conflict. Prices of cereals and water in many areas have soared.

CLICK ON LINK BELOW FOR FULL REPORT
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=92123

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