Somaliland lawmakers oppose parliament quota for women and minorities By Barkhad Dahir in Hargeisa

Somaliland lawmakers oppose parliament quota for women and minorities
By Barkhad Dahir in Hargeisa

Advocacy groups for women and minorities in Somaliland have raised concerns about their political role in government after members of the lower house voted down a provision that would have established a quota for their representation in parliament.

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  Women queue to vote in Hargeisa in 2010. A bill to provide women and minority clans a quota for representation in parliament was recently rejected. [Ali Musa/AFP]

"We decided to remove the provision providing a quota of local council and parliamentary seats to women and other minority groups from the agenda after lawmakers refused to debate on it," said first Deputy Speaker of Parliament Bashe Mohamed Farah after the vote.

Forty-three of the house's 82 members attended the session Saturday (September 1st), in which 30 members voted to remove the provision, eight voted to keep it and four abstained, Farah said. He chaired the meeting and as such does not vote.

He said the bill was defeated because assigning quotas for particular groups is unconstitutional.

Somaliland regional President Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo submitted a report to parliament in July on ways to encourage women and minority groups to participate in elections.

The report, prepared by a nine-member committee, was based on interviews gathered over two months with people from all over the region, said lawmaker Abdirahman Osman Alin, chairman of the parliamentary subcommittee on law, justice, constitution and human rights.

Alin told Sabahi the committee, of which he was a member, recommended that women be given 10% of seats in parliament and 15% of seats in local councils.

The committee also recommended that minority groups be allotted one member in every local council, including in Hargeisa, Buro, Erigabo, Borama, Las Anod and Berbera, as well as one seat in the lower house of parliament.

Minority groups were dissatisfied with these recommendations, said Nimo Eid Salan, chair of the Voice of Somaliland Minority Women Organisation, which advocates for the rights of women and minority groups.

Salan told Sabahi that candidates from minority groups have no hope of winning in elections, as they have been marginalised economically, politically and educationally.

"The decision disappointed us because a quota was the only opportunity that was available for us," she said.

Somaliland women have been fighting for a quota of representation since 2004, said Kinsi Hussein Qawdhan, operating manager of Nagaad, an umbrella group for women's organisations in Somaliland.

"We think this decision will affect our long struggle, and as women we are very disappointed," she told Sabahi, adding that the decision was a setback for women and infringes on their rights.

Parliament has not considered the needs of women who form the majority of the population yet face cultural hurdles to participating in politics, Qawdhan said. Nearly 20 women have declared their intention to run in local council elections on November 28th, she said, but only two women have support from their tribes.

Qawdhan said Nagaad will not give up its struggle to give women the opportunity to participate in politics. The organisation requested the government's permission on Sunday to hold a demonstration against the decision, and is waiting for a reply from the Interior Ministry, she said.

Origin: Sabahi

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