NAIROBI: British charity Save the Children has urged the Somali government to intervene after a military court sentenced four teenage boys to death over their involvement with armed groups.
Authorities in the north-central city of Galkayo arrested six teenagers in October 2020 and a military court last month sentenced four of the boys — now aged between 16 and 18 — to death, while the remaining two were sentenced to 30 and 20 years in jail, the group said.
“We are deeply concerned at these sentences. Sentencing adolescents to death and long-term imprisonment — regardless of their crime — does not work as a deterrent, and certainly isn’t in line with global standards,” Mohammed Mohamed Hassan, the charity’s country director for Somalia, said in a statement.
“The experience of being associated with an armed force or group can have an immediate and lasting impact and consequences for boys and girls, including exploitation and abuse, physical injury or disability. They must be protected, not punished,” he added.
“These boys deserve a chance at rehabilitation, and we urge the government to ensure justice.”
The charity said the court’s decision violated the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Somalia ratified in 2015.
Although Somalia has been known to carry out executions of adult prisoners, no details were available on the executions of juvenile offenders.
Save the Children did not give details about the armed groups in the case of the teenagers.
Save the Children urges Somalia to protect teens from execution
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Save the Children urges Somalia to protect teens from execution
Dozens killed, 8,000 displaced as fighting escalates in Sudan’s North Darfur, UN says
- At least 19 civilians killed during ground assault in Jirjir area of North Darfur; 10 civilians killed and 9 injured in a drone attack on Sinja, capital of Sennar State
- UN calls on all involved in conflict to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, respect international humanitarian law, and enable humanitarian access
NEW YORK CITY: Dozens of civilians, at least, have been killed and thousands displaced as fighting intensifies across Sudan, including North Darfur, the UN said on Tuesday as it warned of worsening humanitarian and nutritional crises.
Local reports suggested at least 19 civilians were killed during a ground assault on Monday in the Jirjir area of North Darfur, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
In a separate incident, 10 civilians were killed and nine injured in a drone attack on Sinja, the capital of Sennar State, according to the Sudan Doctors Network.
The UN is alarmed by the continuing harm to civilians and the growing numbers of displaced people as fighting spreads to several parts of the country, Dujarric said.
“The violence continues to drive people from their homes, and it must stop,” he added.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 8,000 people were displaced on Friday from villages near Kernoi in North Darfur. Some fled to other parts of the state, others crossed the border into Chad seeking refuge, further straining already fragile humanitarian conditions, Dujarric said.
The displacements are unfolding alongside a worsening nutritional emergency in North Darfur, he added. A survey carried out last month by UNICEF and its partners in areas around Tina, Um Baru and Kernoi revealed acute levels of malnutrition far exceeding the World Health Organization’s emergency threshold of 15 percent. It found the highest rate of acute malnutrition, 53 percent, was in Um Baru.
Dujarric again called on all parties involved in the conflict to take immediate action to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, respect international humanitarian law, and enable rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access.
He urged donors to urgently scale up funding to help provide deliveries of life-saving aid, and warned that the continuing fighting and displacement risks worsening what is already one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world.
The UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, will visit Sudan from Jan. 14 to 18. He will hold talks with authorities in Port Sudan, as well as representatives of civil society groups and the UN Country Team.
He will also visit Northern State, including Al-Afad gathering site to meet people displaced by the conflict from Darfur and Kordofan, as well as humanitarian partners working there.
