Child protection situation

Boys and girls of all ages in Somalia continue to endure multiple protection risks and violations of their rights including family separation, sexual and physical violence, killing and maiming, psychosocial distress, and worst forms of child labour. Other risks include forced and protracted displacements, limited access to humanitarian assistance due to insecurity and/or discriminatory practices and exploitation, as well as recruitment by armed forces and groups. Despite important measures taken by the Government to reduce recruitment of children, Somalia is still among the top six countries with the highest total number of grave violations against children in the world.

Response :

New ways organizations focus on the provision of critical child protection and specialized services through an integrated approach to address the priority needs of targeted vulnerable girls and boys and their families and the vulnerable communities. The community-based child protection responses in IDP camps/sites and conflict-affected areas will be strengthened. This means applying the principles of child rights, including non-discrimination participation and accountability to children, in planning, managing, implementing and evaluating programmes. It enables us to achieve programmes with an appropriate balance of practical action on rights violations, strengthening structures and mechanisms, and building constituencies supportive of children’s rights.

GBV Situational Update

Somalia is experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis driven by prolonged conflict, recurrent droughts, and flooding, which have displaced approximately 3.8 million people, predominantly women and children. Displacement has heightened the risk of gender-based violence (GBV), particularly for women, girls, and marginalized groups, with rising cases of intimate partner and sexual violence exacerbated by limited access to services, stigma, and weak legal accountability

Response :

New ways organization provides comprehensive GBV services in Lower shabelle region SWS and women and girls’ safe space. The GBV response involves a collection of comprehensive services for survivors that reduce the harmful after-effects of GBV and prevent further trauma and harm. NEW WAYS GBV Prevention & Response Program Experiences includes:   To provide short and long-term protection from GBV for women and girls in lower shabelle region SWS   and to ensure that structural, systemic and individual protections are institutionalized, our interventions take place at three levels:

• Structural level (primary protection): preventative measures to ensure rights are recognized and protected (through international, statutory and traditional laws and policies)
• Systemic level (secondary protection): systems and strategies to monitor and respond when those rights are breached (statutory and traditional legal/ justice systems, health care systems, social welfare systems and community mechanisms)
• Operative level (tertiary protection): direct services to meet the needs of women and girls who have been abused.