MOGADISHU, Somalia 23 September 2025 – The Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) expresses its strongest concern over the Somali government’s deliberate attempt to dismantle existing human rights protection mechanisms by seeking to terminate the mandate of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, while simultaneously rushing to establish a government-controlled National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). This represents a calculated move to crush human rights protections, shield violators from accountability, and silence independent oversight.
The Somali federal government has reportedly informed the Human Rights Council in Geneva of its intention to end the mandate of the Independent Expert, effective October 2025. This mandate, established in 1993 and most recently extended under Human Rights Council Resolution 57/27 (October 2024), enables impartial monitoring, assessment, and reporting on Somalia’s human rights situation. The current mandate-holder, Ms. Isha Dyfan, appointed in 2020, works in her individual capacity, gathering information, conducting visits, and making recommendations to advance human rights in Somalia.
This reckless decision comes amid one of the darkest human rights periods in Somalia’s recent history:
- Forced evictions of thousands of vulnerable families in Mogadishu, leaving internally displaced persons (IDPs) and minorities at severe risk.
- Escalating attacks on journalists and media freedom, leading to widespread self-censorship in Mogadishu and forcing some journalists into exile.
- Persistent sexual violence and murder against women and girls, while the government continues to oppose the Sexual Offenses Bill.
- Extrajudicial killings and abductions of civilians in South and Central Somalia, particularly in Middle Shabelle, Lower Shabelle, and Hiiraan, carried out by militias operating with impunity.
- Entrenched corruption, extortion, and human trafficking, with credible reports of cash smuggling through Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport by networks linked to senior officials.
Instead of addressing these grave abuses, the government has pushed forward with the creation of a puppet National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Announced in July 2025 by the Ministry of Women and Human Rights, the nine-member body is dominated by government employees, former ministers, and close associates of the President, Prime Minister, and Speakers of Parliament. This process not only bypassed constitutional requirements but also excluded Somalia’s most marginalized and oppressed communities, further undermining the its legitimacy.
The so-called NHRC blatantly violates Article 41 of the Provisional Constitution, which requires “Parliament to establish an independent, adequately resourced commission”, and Law No. 18 of 2016, which emphasizes autonomy, transparency, and independence. It also contravenes the Paris Principles and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights standards, which mandate that national human rights institutions be pluralistic, credible, and free from state control.
SJS is deeply alarmed that the commission’s composition reflects Somalia’s discredited 4.5 clan power-sharing formula, deliberately excluding minorities and civil society voices. Even worse, some appointees are directly tied to human rights violators, including the recent reappointment of Mahad Mohamed Salad, a figure with a notorious record of abuses, as Director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA).
This demonstrates beyond doubt that the process was politically manipulated, non-transparent, and designed to whitewash violations rather than protect victims. If left unchallenged, this will entrench impunity and dismantle Somalia’s already fragile human rights protections.
SJS Calls and Recommendations:
The Somali federal government must immediately halt the current NHRC process, and restart it in full compliance with Article 41 of the Constitution and international human rights standards.
Parliament must ensure a transparent, merit-based, and participatory process, with open calls for applications, public vetting, and genuine involvement of civil society, minorities, and independent experts.
Individuals implicated in past human rights violations must be barred from serving in or influencing the commission.
The Somali civil society must take an active role in monitoring the process, demanding inclusivity and independence.
International partners and human rights organizations must closely monitor developments and withhold recognition or support for any government-controlled body that fails to meet international standards.
Somalia deserves a truly independent and credible national human rights commission that protects victims, holds perpetrators accountable, and strengthens the rule of law. Instead, the current process seeks to legitimize repression and enable impunity.
SJS further strongly warns that dismantling international and constitutional safeguards in this manner will have devastating consequences for Somalia’s human rights future.