2008 Human Rights Reports: Somalia
Bureau of Democracy, USA Government Human Rights, and Labor
2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Prison and Detention Center Conditions
Prison conditions remained harsh and life threatening in all regions of the country. The main Somaliland prison in Hargeisa, designed for 150 inmates, held more than 700 prisoners. Overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions, lack of access to health care, and inadequate food and water persisted in prisons throughout the country. Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and pneumonia were widespread. Abuse by guards was common. Detainees' families and clans generally were expected to pay the costs of detention. In many areas prisoners depended on food received from family members or from relief agencies.
The Puntland administration permitted prison visits by independent monitors. An agreement between Somaliland and the UN Development Program (UNDP) allows for the monitoring of prison conditions. There were no visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross to prisons in Somaliland or in the rest of Somalia during the year, but a Prisons Conditions Management Committee organized by the UNDP and comprised of medical doctors, government officials, and civil society representatives continued to visit prisons in Somaliland. During the year UNDP managed a program to improve the Somaliland prisons by building new facilities and assisting in training wardens and judicial officials.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus
The police were generally ineffective, underpaid, and corrupt. With the possible exception of approximately 2,000 UN-trained police known as the Somali Police Unit, members of the TFG titular police forces throughout the country often directly participated in politically based conflict and owed their positions largely to clan and familial links to government authorities. There were continued allegations that TFG security officials were responsible for extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate firing on civilians, arbitrary arrest and detention, rape, extortion, looting, and harassment.
In Somaliland an estimated 60 percent of the budget was allocated to maintaining a militia and police force comprised of former soldiers. Abuses by police and militia members were rarely investigated, and impunity was a problem. Police generally failed to prevent or respond to societal violence.
The Somaliland constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was not independent in practice. The Somaliland constitution is based on democratic principles, but the region continued to use laws that predate the constitution, some of which contradict democratic principles. Functional courts exist though there was a serious lack of trained judges and a shortage of legal documentation to build judicial precedence in Somaliland. Untrained police and other unqualified persons reportedly served as judges. International NGOs reported that local officials often interfered with legal matters and that the Public Order Law in Somaliland was often used to detain and imprison persons without trial.
In Somaliland the rights to be represented by counsel and to appeal were more often respected. Authorities in this region did not recognize the TFC and continued to apply the Somaliland constitution, as well as pre-1991 laws.
Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence
The TFC provides for the sanctity of private property and privacy; however, looting, land seizure, and forced entry into private property continued in Mogadishu and elsewhere with impunity. The Puntland Charter and the Somaliland constitution recognize the right to private property; however, authorities did not generally respect this right in practice.
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