The UN Human rights abuse in Somaliland: Is the United Nations multifaceted and a double dealing agency?
In this article, it is not going to introduce the United Nation historical contextualisation and the UN human rights mechanism but it delimits to outline that the UN is an organisation since its inception has been resistant to reforms to serve to all the Nations equally. Ever since the UN came into existence, it has been hijacked by the veto wielding permanent security members who have used it as a tool to serve in their best interest at the expense of the majority of the nations. Interest has been propelling the organisation’s actions and inactions decisions that had changed the world beyond recognition for good. Albeit, the UN has been a classic example of unjust and undemocratic within, on the contrary, it has promulgated human rights and democracy globally in which it was at odds itself. Nations that stood on the bath of the cyclones of United Nation, including democratisation; human rights and economic policies were either toppled or tacitly submitted into these whole sales. Iraq is a good example, as the country was reduced into rubbles in the name of democracy, and the imposition of economic policies of the structural adjustment policies prescribed to developing counties by the World Bank and the IMF to have made them hugely indebted. It further removed their social safety net and condemned communities to extreme poverty.
The question is how an organisation, which is undemocratic, could and should champion to promulgating democracy and human rights? Conversely, over decades, it imposed on human rights laws and democracy to developing countries. Notwithstanding the huge benefits of Human rights and democratisation to humanity, the UN as an undemocratic appears not to recognise the Human rights and democratisation it championed. In this article, it attempts to explain that the UN has committed crimes against humanity in Somaliland, including extermination murder, torture, rape, imprisonment, enslavement and robbery. You may be puzzled to configure how the UN stands accused of committing crimes against humanity.
In delineating the answer, firstly, the crime against humanity is embedded in the Rome Statue, which defines it as “Odious offences that constitute a serious attack on humanity dignity or grave humiliation or degradation of one or more human beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy or/of wide practices of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a defacto authority”. Being at faulty to its own principles, the UN has subjected Somaliland twenty two years of isolation from international community. This prevented Somaliland to deal with international community to develop, provide decent public services to its own people and to tape in its natural resources. With UN denying the basic human rights to recognise Somaliland, it has subjected generation of peaceful and diligent Somalilanders to abject poverty, life time unemployment, infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDs; hopelessness. With all these negativity denigrating the rights to life for Somaliland people, and it hands in to terrorism and piracy a golden opportunity for recruitment to destabilise Somaliland, the region and beyond afield.
The irony of the UN was that despite Somaliland’s efforts to have produced the finest democracy in developing countries, the UN over the past twenty two years was stubborn to send even a fact finding mission to look into the case of Somaliland. It has simply been inaction to live up to its responsibility and principle. Failing to execute duties, ex-presidents and government ministers have been indicted and held to account by International Criminal Court (ICCT) to either failing stop or being complicit to crimes perpetrated against humanity. The UN could not be an exception. In African, Charles Taylor was dealt by the ICCT and Rwanda former Prime Minister, Jean Kambanda was successfully prosecuted at international Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and pleaded guilty to genocide.
In the case of Somaliland, thousands of Somalilanders have been killed, tortured, raped, murdered , imprisoned and enslaved in the past twenty years. It was a gross violation of their human rights perpetrated by the agency that should have protected them. The UN’s’ inaction had contributed to the crime against humanity in Somaliland. If the United Nations had resolved the status of Somaliland, thousands of lives could have been spared. It appears that the UN is driven by interest and takes ownership only when its interest is at stake. As Somaliland’s people wait too long to get international recognition, thousands of school leavers and university graduates are leaving in their thousands to escape poverty and hopelessness. Local media reportedly explained last week that 150 pupils disappeared two local schools in Hargeisa without even the knowledge of their parents By TAHRIB. TAHRIIB, which translates into English as adventurous exodus (suicide mission) because of the danger that the person is killed, tortured and raped through their journey is at high odds. It is an illegal migration to get into Europe, which is a journey that starts off at Somaliland routed across Ethiopia, Sudan to Libya then across the sea to Italy as their final destination to get into mainland Europe. Sudan and Libya desert is the toughest part of the journey followed by the sea journey. Thousands of Somalilanders have been tortured, killed, imprisoned and enslaved in the Libyan desert at the hands of criminals. In addition, thousands have died in the sea when their small boats capsized. This is criminal against humanity in which UN has been complicit and contributed to it.
In realisation the scale of the problem that Somaliland’s youth faced, the Ethiopian Prime Minister made a speech to his parliament on the 18th May 2013, which was aimed at the international community failing to look into the status of Somaliland. The speech coinciding on the 22nd anniversary of the Somaliland independence from Somalia and was eluding that the international community inaction could hand in to piracy, elating terrorism and predisposing the region to becoming endemic to insecurity. This makes stark reality, as Somaliland strategically lies adjacent to the main world shipping line.
This article concludes that the UN is a multifaceted and double dealing agent and in the case of Somaliland it has been abused to all international human rights laws, and Somaliland people today hold UN to account for crime against humanity it perpetrated in Somaliland. As in this article does not detail all the specific articles UN has been in breach of in the case of Somaliland. However, it succinctly summarises that the UN has been breached of all human rights laws including:
- Universal Declaration of human rights of article 1 to 30;
- International covenants on civil and political rights;
- Option protocol to the International Covenant on civil and political rights; and
- Second optional protocol to the International Covenant on civil and political rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.
Finally, the Somaliland people request the United Nations Security Council to urgently send a fact finding mission to Somaliland or immediately recognise Somaliland after twenty years of long wait. Recognising Somaliland will contribute to regional stability and prosperity and, if it is coerced Somaliland into becoming failed state, it will have serious regional security and world security implications.
Ahmed Abdi Isse, BSc (Hons), MSc in Social Science
Nb: This article was sent to:
Somaliland President
Ethiopian prime Minister;
Organisation of African Unity (AOU);
UN Security Council; and
The Somaliland public
