Child Rights Protection in Conflict Situations: Contextualizing the Relevance of Child Protection Laws in Somalia

Since the collapse the government in 1991, Somalia has witnessed prevalent violence and the creation of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) in 2012 has not abated the situation as the FGS remains largely infective in protecting the population including children against human rights violation and abuse. Furthermore, Somalia law is based on traditional and Shari’a law, Xeer, which gives little room for children rights protection in the county. The purpose of this study was to examine the relevance of the child protection laws in Somalia. It aimed to achieve three objectives; to examine trends in child rights protection in Somalia between 2012 and 2018, to investigate how the government of Somalia has mediated between culture, Shari’a laws and the CRC to enhance child rights, and to examine how non-governmental organizations have participated in enhancement and violation of child rights in Somalia. To achieve these objectives, this study used a case study research design. It applied a mixed method approach. Specifically, it used both qualitative approaches (interpretivism) and quantitative approaches (positivism). As per the interpretivist approach, the researcher used background study and content analysis and in line with positivist approach, the researcher sampled respondents and used semi-structured interview schedules and participant observation to collect the necessary data. This study found that trends in children rights protection in Somalia show that that the rights of the children in the country continues to be violated by various actors including the FGS, the insurgent groups and the terrorist organizations. Children in Somalia continue to fall victim of acts that are contrary to children rights as entailed in the CRC, such acts include torture,forced conscription into armed and criminal groups, rape, abduction, forced marriages, sex slaves and other forms of physical and sexual abuse. It has found that while the violation of children rights is recognized by key stakeholders including government officials,religious leaders and NGOs incidences of children rights violation continue to occur. This study has found that the violation of children rights in Somalia can be attributed to several factors including the ambiguity in who a child is with the Shari’a which is the basis upon which the legal system in Somalia is based as well as the perception of a child within Xeer,which is traditional and cultural system which is at the basis of Somalia social structure. It has established that while the government of Somalia has attempted to mediate between Shari’a law and CRC, the laws relating to the protection of children rights in Somalia remain largely irrelevant.