AU and UN reiterate commitment to help Somalia tackle conflict-related sexual violence

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the United Nations have reiterated their commitment to help develop capacity of the Somali national security forces to address all forms of human rights violations.

The two organizations promised to continue mobilizing resources and providing specialized training to the Somali national security forces, during the transition period, to prepare the officers for the handover of security responsibility as per the UN Security Council resolution (2372) adopted last year.

The commitment was made, on Monday, at a joint AMISOM-UN trainer of trainers (TOT) workshop on the prevention of conflict-related sexual violence for the Somali national security forces (SNSF), which is being attended by participants from both federal and state governments.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the four-day workshop, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Madeira, described sexual violence as a weapon of war, reiterating the urgent need to build the capacity of the security forces, both at the federal and regional states level, to tackle the vice.

“AMISOM is happy to support the Somali national security forces, the regional states and the Federal Government of Somalia to ensure the elimination of all forms of violence against women and children including conflict-related sexual violence,” Ambassador Madeira noted.

AMISOM, the SRCC added, has taken concrete steps to end sexual and gender-based violence in Somalia by working to prevent its occurrence, facilitating response to incidents and advocating for the availability of resources to meet the needs of survivors.

“The deployment of Women Protection and Child Protection officers to AMISOM is a significant step to ensuring that the security forces and the government of Somalia are supported accordingly,” Ambassador Madeira said.