Report On Human Rights Practices For 2011 Country Of Somalia

Somalia is fragmented into regions led in whole or in part by different entities, including: the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu, the self-declared Republic of Somaliland in the Northwest, Puntland in the Northeast, and Galmuduug in the central region. The TFG was formed in 2004 with a five-year mandate to establish permanent, representative governmental institutions and organize national elections. In 2009 a 550-member Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP), established under the internationally backed Djibouti Peace Process, extended the TFG's mandate until August 2011 and elected Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as TFG president. On February 3, the TFP unilaterally extended its mandate by a further three years. On June 9, following a six-month stalemate between the TFP and the TFG (collectively referred to as the Transitional Federal Institutions, or TFIs) over ending the transitional period, both the president and the parliamentary speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, signed the Kampala Accord. That accord extended the transition period to August 20, 2012, and stated that elections for president and parliamentary speaker should take place prior to that date. On September 6, the TFIs as well as regional and political stakeholders endorsed a Roadmap for Ending the Transition that includes the key essential tasks to be completed before August 2012. On December 13, members of the TFP passed a vote of no confidence against parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan. The TFG, African Union, Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and Speaker Sharif Hassan himself all deemed the no-confidence vote to be a violation of the Kampala Accord and questioned whether the vote followed proper parliamentary procedure. At year's end Sharif Hassan remained in the speakership position. Conflict-related abuses, including killings, displacement, and restriction of humanitarian assistance continued to severely impact civilians. According to the UN, there were 1.36 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country and 955,000 persons had taken refuge in other countries, primarily due to conflict, famine, and drought. Approximately 300,000 Somali refugees arrived in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Yemen during the year. The rule of law was largely nonexistent. Al-Shabaab controlled most of the south and central regions, where it committed human rights abuses including killings, torture, restriction of humanitarian assistance, and extortion. On August 6, al-Shabaab withdrew from most areas of Mogadishu, but in the following months it continued attacks in the city.

Senegal is a moderately decentralized republic dominated by a strong executive branch. In 2007 Abdoulaye Wade was reelected president for a five-year term in an election generally viewed as free and fair, despite sporadic incidents of violence and intimidation. Also in 2007 the ruling Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) won the majority of seats in National Assembly elections that were boycotted by the leading opposition parties. Security forces reported to civilian authorities. The most significant human rights problems included reports of physical abuse and torture; limits on freedoms of speech, press, and assembly; and corruption. Other major human rights problems included the following: inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees and prisoners, including overcrowded prisons; questionable investigative detention and long pretrial detention; lack of an independent judiciary; rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment of and discrimination against women; female genital mutilation (FGM); child abuse; child marriage; infanticide; trafficking in persons; and child labor.

The Government of Eritrea is an authoritarian regime under the control of President Isaias Afwerki. The People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), headed by President Afwerki, is the sole political party. The PFDJ has controlled the country since 1991. Elections have not taken place since the country's independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Elements of the security forces frequently and with impunity acted independently of civilian control. There were consistent and persistent reports of serious human rights violations. These abuses included, but were not limited to, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions that included torture and incommunicado detention, which sometimes resulted in death; forced labor of indefinite duration through the mandatory national service program; and the severe restriction of civil liberties including freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, and religion.

Guinea-Bissau is a multiparty republic. In July 2009 Malam Bacai Sanha of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) was elected president in elections following the assassination of Joao Bernardo Vieira by the military. International observers declared the election to be generally free and fair despite election-related violence preceding the polls. As in the previous year, there were multiple instances in which elements of the security forces acted independently of civilian control. On December 26, fighting between rival factions of the military resulted in two deaths. Serious human rights abuses included beating and torture by security forces, poor conditions of detention, and violence--including female genital mutilation (FGM)--and discrimination against women. Other human rights abuses included arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of judicial independence and due process; interference with privacy; intimidation of journalists; widespread official corruption, exacerbated by government officials' impunity and suspected involvement in drug trafficking; trafficking of children; and child labor, including some forced labor.