We write in advance of the 90th session of the Committee on Rights of the Child regarding Somalia’s compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This submission includes information on teenage pregnancy and child marriage, sexual violence against girls, airstrikes killing and maiming children, detention of children, the recruitment of child soldiers, and protecting education from attack during armed conflict.
Sexual Violence against Girls (articles 3, 19 and 24)
While the full scope of sexual violence in Somalia remains unknown due to underreporting and absence of data, it is clear that internally displaced girls are particularly vulnerable to rape by armed men. This includes Somali government soldiers and militia members as well as the Al-Shabab armed group.
In 2020, the UN documented over 100 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, mostly against girls.[1] Since 2019, media outlets have repeatedly reported on several violent rapes, including gang rapes of children. Continue Reading
(SOURCE) https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/14/submission-committee-rights-child-review-somalia
