Somalia is in the process of electing its new upper house new members and the new members of the lower house (parliament) where women are entitled to receive 30% of the whole seats in both houses. Women’s political participation in Somalia is set to 30 % quota and a committee is established to oversee and ensure that women get their 30 % quota.
Among the CSO organizations monitoring and observing human rights violations during elections in Somalia is the coalition of Somali Human Rights Defenders CSHRDS. One of CSHRDS senior advocates and public relationship officers (Mohamed Abdullahi Shiino) met with the chairwoman and coordinator of the union of Somali women candidates for the parliament; Nasro Ahmed Ali & Jamila Hayle respectively on August 29, 2021 and listened to their complaints. Among the complaints received by Shiino was that some women were systemically were bared and denied registration as a candidate and others position was filled with men candidates.
These serious complaints add to the flawed indirect election process where already some other candidates were suppressed and excluded from the process by security apparatus in an effort to manipulate the whole process and produce a result that meets the wishes of the suppressors wherever they are situated in Somalia regardless of the region they are in control of. Such serious complaints by women candidates must be taken very serious and immediately addressed by the concerned stakeholders including the ministry of women and human rights development of the republic of Somalia, as such serious complaints demonstrate the importance of human rights observation during elections in Somalia undertaken by the coalition of Somalia human rights defenders CSHRDS.
HANAHR Human Rights Monitoring Team