On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Delegation of the European Union to Somalia reaffirms its engagement to ending sexual and gender-based violence in Somalia, and expresses its support to the commitments made by the Government of Somalia to end gender-based violence. At the Nairobi International Conference on Population and Development (12 to 14 November 2019), co-hosted by Kenya, Denmark and the United Nations, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed presented Somalia’s national commitments of: zero tolerance for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), zero tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and the reduction of maternal deaths. A key factor to achieve this will be to strengthen the legal frameworks, such as the Sexual Offences Bill and the FGM Elimination Bill. It is crucial that victims of gender-based violence and female genital mutilation are protected by the law, can speak out and seek medical help, and have access to a justice system that ensures perpetrators are punished. It has been more than a year since the Sexual Offences Bill moved to the parliament and we note that it has not yet been passed. In addition, the Anti-FGM Bill is yet to be tabled at cabinet level. The delegation of the European Union is ready to support Somalia to put these initiatives into action. We invite the Government of Somalia to undertake all necessary steps to pass the Sexual Offences Bill without any further delay, and to table the Anti-FGM Bill as a priority……
