Somalia | Calls for justice as four teenagers sentenced to death over involvement with armed groups

Save the Children has called on the Somali authorities to intervene after a military court sentenced six teenagers for participating in armed groups, four of whom received the death penalty.

The teenagers were arrested in October 2020 in Galkayo, in the Mudug region of the Puntland state of Somalia, for alleged involvement in armed groups. Four of the children were 15 years old at the time of the arrest.

A military court based in Galkayo, Somalia, handed down the death sentence on January 31 for four of the teenagers, aged between 16 and 18, while the other two, aged 16, were sentenced to 30 and 20 years in prison. prison, respectively.

The sentence violates the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Somalia ratified in 2015, and which codifies Somalia’s commitments to protect children’s rights to life, survival and affords them adequate legal protection.

Save the Children Country Director for Somalia Mohamud Mohamed Hassan said:

“We are deeply concerned about these sentences. Sentencing adolescents to death and long prison terms, regardless of their crime, does not work as a deterrent and is certainly not in line with the global standards that Somalia has accepted. These children deserve a chance to rehabilitation, and we urge the government to guarantee justice.

“We urge the Puntland government to strengthen enforcement and implementation of the Puntland Juvenile Justice Act, to protect and treat all children under the age of 18 in accordance with child rights standards.

“Throughout Somalia, children must be protected from recruitment and use by armed groups. The experience of being associated with an armed force or group can have immediate and lasting impacts and consequences for children, including exploitation and abuse, physical injury or disability. They should be protected, not punished.”

Save the Children works across Somalia helping the government and community uphold children’s rights to survive, learn and be protected. The Federal Government of Somalia and its member states must ensure child-friendly legal procedures for any child accused of a crime. These should involve ensuring adequate legal representation and implementing child justice principles that are aimed at the diversion, rehabilitation and reintegration of the child into their families and community.

Save the Children welcomes the Government of Puntland’s progress towards full implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act. Save the Children affirms its commitment to the Government of Puntland’s continued collaboration and support to improve child protection.

These sentences come days before the 20th anniversary of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC), which prohibits the participation of children under the age of 18 in hostilities. The day it came into force, February 12, 2002, is commemorated annually as ‘Red Hand Day’ to raise awareness of the recruitment and use of children.

Source: nnn.ng, Staff, February 12, 2022

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