Ubah Ali

Since 1945, the United Nations, which is the world’s largest intergovernmental organization, has maintained international order and global peace. To solidify the core principles of international law and build sustainable long-lasting peace, the United Nations established its sub-organs dedicated to carrying on specific projects. Including UN Women, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and more to name a few. Thus, to achieve its core mission, the UN has become a firm believer in women’s empowerment agendas and gender equality. The adaptation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 by the UN General Assembly resolution became an important document that highlighted the fundamental rights of humankind. According to UDHR, “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” Therefore, the adoption of UDHR paved the way for UN member states to naturalize this universal document and incorporate it into their constitutions.    

Not only that, to ensure its mission on reducing the gender gap, the UN Charter highlighted it as a critical core tenant of its task. Article 1 of the UN Charter states, “To achieve international co-operation … in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” Women and girls worldwide have experienced gender inequality and human rights violations for a long time. However, the establishment of the UN and its core fundamental rights have changed UN member states’ commitment towards accelerating gender equality programs and championing women and girls empowerment policies. To abolish all forms of discrimination, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1979. This legally binding convention became a catalyst of change because 187 UN member states have ratified this international treaty.Additionally, CEDAW outlined why there is a need to combat all forms of discrimination against women. Article one of the CEDAW convention “declares that discrimination against women is fundamentally unjust and constitutes an offense against human dignity.” The ratification of the CEDAW convention impacted the domestic policies of UN member states and their commitment to localize the international gender equality agenda.

Furthermore, the UN General Assembly also adopted the United Nations Decade for Women from 1975 to 1985. This decade became a keystone for women’s rights campaigns and gender equality policy reforms, including pay equity, family planning education, employment, health, and more. During this period, significant women conferences were held, which all advocated for the inclusion of women in peace-building processes, economic development, policymaking, politics, and science. This decade became instrumental, and it has shaped and created many UN programs that impacted the lives of women and girls. Including CEDAW, United Nations Development Fund for Women, and other notable programs. To widen its commitment to ending gender inequality and discriminatory practices globally, UN General Assembly founded The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women in 2010. UN Women set global standards where every woman and girl can demand their inalienable rights. Including their political, civil, religious, and social rights.    

Additionally, the establishment of UN Women was to accelerate the formation of gender equality programs and encourage the UN member states and the signatories of the CEDAW convention to be a part of this global movement and assist them in drafting gender-equal policy. UN Women has a triple mandate:

1. “To provide normative support to inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms.”
2. “To provide programme implementation support to the Member States who request support in implementing these standards, by providing technical expertise and financial resources.”
3. “To coordinate the UN system’s work on gender equality to enhance coherence as well as to promote accountability, including through regular monitoring of system-wide progress.”

Therefore, UN Women is a global organization that champions gender equality and assists state policymakers in designing women-friendly policies. UN Women advocates for women’s economic empowerment, political participation, and the need to end violence against women worldwide. It also promotes women’s need to participate in the peace-building processes.

Moreover, UN Women has shown a particular commitment to promoting gender equality policies in Africa. Many African states struggle to build long-lasting peace as civil wars, and ethnic conflict demolished their statehood and stability. Thus, many women in Africa remain to experience gender-based violence and other discriminatory acts even though the vast majority of the African nations ratified the CEDAW and the African Union’s Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Hence, UN Women’s establishment helped African governments broaden their scope on ending gender discrimination culture. Most importantly, UN women also provided economic opportunities to African women to expand their income channels. Having multiple regional offices, including Somalia, Rwanda, Mali, and other African states allowed the UN Women to start grassroots movements while collaborating with civil societies, policy-makers, lawyers, human rights advocates, and state leaders.  

In addition, UN Women is committed to ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), which is a threat against the rights of women and girls. FGM is the total or partial removal of female genitalia for non-medical reasons.

 

FGM has both short- and long-term consequences such as severe bleeding, childbirth complications, ongoing pain during sexual intercourse, death, and other mental health effects. According to the UN, 200 million women and girls around the globe are survivors of FGM and 80 percent of these cases happen among the African states. Somalia has the highest FGM victims globally. About 98% of the Somali women have been subjected to FGM, and there are no domestic laws that criminalize this traditional practice.

Moreover, Somalia is not a party to the CEDAW Convention, which limits states’ obligation and commitment to end all forms of gender discrimination. Not only that but Somalia has also been experiencing ongoing conflicts and wars for the last thirty years, and the federal government collapsed during 1991. Additionally, one of the federal member states claimed its independence against Somalia after bloody civil wars.

Somaliland is a de facto sovereign state, and it does not have international recognition. It does not have a seat in the UN and African Union (AU), which means international laws and conventions do not apply since its government is unknown in the international scene. However, Somaliland’s constitution recognizes that all human rights are equal, and everyone must be protected with dignity. In Somaliland, there are two parallel laws that contradict each other when it comes to ending FGM (Constitutional and Sharia Laws). For example, FGM remains to be legal in Somaliland despite its detrimental effect on women’s and girl’s health and well-being, “In Somaliland, there is neither policy nor law that prohibits phromatic female genital mutilation, although, under the law, female genital mutilation may become an offence if it results in a crime against the safety of individual safety, namely, hurt.” Hence, in Somaliland, FGM is normalized since many traditional and religious leaders are backing this practice. 

Furthermore, UN Women has been actively pushing for domestic laws and policies that could solve this issue in Somaliland. Although Somaliland has not signed any international convention, multiple UN organizations, including UNDP, UN Women, UNICEF, UNFPA and others, have been trying to reach out to the Somaliland governments to encourage them to localize these laws. Additionally, most of these UN organizations have their main headquarters in Muqdisho, and the Somaliland government is opposed to working with entities that do not recognize their fight for independence. However, UN organizations like the UN women extended their work in Somaliland while directly working with youth lawyers, women/feminist activists, and other NGOs to advocate for abolishing FGM. UN Women started grassroots movements led by the local people to call for eradicating this discriminatory practice, which damaged the lives of many young girls and women to enjoy their fundamental rights. Not only that, but UN Women is also partnering with other UN organizations that are currently operating in Somaliland, including UNFPA and UNDP. 

In Somaliland, the majority of women have limited economic opportunities, and they are illiterate. To end the economic gender gap, UN Women started economic empowerment initiatives that assist Somali women in establishing their businesses. According to UN Women, “Our economic empowerment program targets poor urban and rural women who have entrepreneurial potential but lack assets, skills or access to financial services…The programme will leverage financial products, social capital, and physical assets for women and youth.” Providing job opportunities and entrepreneurial skills helped many women in Somaliland and Somalia to be active members of the community. Because the practice of FGM has been a source of income to many traditional practitioners, which are mainly women. These Somali women have been reluctant to end FGM because of the financial element. Thus, UN Women’s economic empowerment campaigns created other channels of job opportunities that helped traditional practitioners to transition from the continuation of FGM.

Although, UN Women, with the help of the other UN organizations, are tirelessly working hard to end FGM in Somaliland. More than 90% of Somaliland women have undergone FGM since no international laws and pressures could create a system of accountability and condemnation from the international community.

Not only that, other violations of women’s rights are normalized in Somaliland, such as rape, GBV, child marriage, and forced marriage. Hence, I think international organizations including the UN Women must change their approach to ending FGM in Somaliland. UN Women should provide more resources and leadership training to the local NGOs and the local religious leaders. Also, I would like to know more about how UN Women would continue dealing with the Somaliland government since it’s unrecognized internationally. Because the Somaliland government does not want to continue working with UN organizations that only recognize the statehood of Somalia. Hence, I am interested to know the UN Women’s second plan if the Somaliland government suspends the work of the UN organizations operating in Somaliland. 

From career-wise, visiting UN Women will benefit me as a women’s rights activist and FGM survivor. I am a FGM survivor, and I advocate for FGM eradication in Somaliland and Somalia. I was circumcised when I was six years old, and I did not recover from that trauma. As a survivor of FGM, I co-founded an organization called Solace for Somaliland Girls, committed to abolishing all forms of FGM across communities in Somaliland. We started local awareness campaigns to educate the community about the danger of FGM and why it should be abolished. Since there are contradictory voices regarding this issue, we usually invite religious leaders, doctors, youth, and other community members to discuss this topic openly and educate the population.  

Religious leaders are influential in Somaliland, and inviting them to discussion tables and policy drafting are vital if the international community and local NGOs want to end FGM. Therefore, UN Women should broaden its approach and invite religious leaders to their activities. Thus, as I co-founder of Solace for Somaliland Girls, vising UN Women could open more collaboration with UN Women itself and other UN bodies to strategize and strengthen their work of ending FGM. Additionally, I am using my social media to challenge Somaliland’s patriarchal culture, which hinders eradicating this practice. Using digital media helped me encourage women to speak up and share their stories as victims and survivors of this painful practice. Sharing our stories as survivors is part of our healing journey, and it is a way we are demanding justice and policy reforms from the government and international actors. Therefore, visiting UN Women will help me get international connections and push the global communities, including the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), to take this issue seriously and double their work and long-term commitment to end this dangerous practice both in Somalia and Somaliland.