Speech by Dr. Daud Abdi Daud’ lectural speech from Mogadishu, Somalia: The Federation of Somalia Universities (FESU), created under the auspices of UN Strategic Joint for Educational Matters Development UNSJEDM) in 2022, is a membership-based organisation serving the national higher education community through: expertise & trends analysis, publications & portals, advisory services, peer-to-peer learning, events as well as doing national, regional, continental and global level advocacy by developing Somalia higher education system after the collapse of the central government since 1990.
FESU is an institutional Network of Universities from the different federal states including Benadir region and it is currently made up of 12th universities from three federal regions of Somalia including Puntland, Southwest and Banadir region, combining over 1.000 university staff and 10.500,000 students.
Situation of Children in Somalia Alarming: New Report Details Staggering Levels of Grave Violations
Children in Somalia are recruited and used, killed or maimed, abducted, and subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence at staggering levels, making Somalia one of the direst situations on the children and armed conflict agenda.
Two years after raising the alarm on the dire situation of children affected by conflict in Somalia, a new report shows that grave violations against children committed by all parties to conflict continue unabated. Children in Somalia are recruited and used, killed or maimed, abducted, and subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence at staggering levels, making Somalia one of the direst situations on the children and armed conflict agenda.
The sixth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed children in Somalia shows that a total of 8,042 grave violations against 6,501 children (5,108 boys and 1,393 girls) were verified between October 2019 and September 2021. A worrisome trend involves children experiencing more than one grave violation, with at least 1,370 children affected by multiple violations, especially recruitment and use and abductions which were often perpetrated in conjunction.
Grave violations spiked in 2020, in part due to COVID-19 response measures affecting the closure of schools, which exacerbated children’s exposure to violence and grave violations.
With 2,852 children affected, the recruitment and use of children continued to be one of the most prevalent violations, with Al-Shabaab as the main perpetrator. Abductions followed with a troubling number of 2,502 children affected. Almost all abductions were attributed to Al-Shabaab, 80% of them for the purpose of recruitment and use.
Despite evidence and experience demonstrating that strategic, comprehensive, and holistic approaches can wield a far greater – and more lasting – impact on the prevention and countering of violent extremism, PCVE remains under-utilized specially in Somalia because Somalia is the most dangerous country to live without to be non-Islam, even the foreign families from other Islamic departments within suni-beleivers like Shia cannot maintain to live in Somalia.
FESU will produce soon some important recommendations with strategic commands in order to resolve the matter and be it the first change agent in across Somalia.
