Hiiraan Online
Tuesday August 15, 2017
Speaker of the Upper House, Abdi Hashi Abdullahi, after his win during elections in Mogadishu, Somalia, on January 22, 2017. AMISOM Photo / Tobin Jones
Mogadishu (HOL) - The Speaker of Somalia’s Upper House, Abdi Hashi Abdullahi has responded to a letter by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia (SR-UNSG), Michael Keating, in which the latter raised concerns about the lack of representation of women on the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC).
In the letter dated August 8th, Mr. Keating said the lack of women voices on the committee would not only be a step backward but would also “represent a glaring disdain for justice and human rights”.
Mr. Abdullahi responded on Monday denying that the voice of women was silenced, especially in the Upper House of Somali Federal Parliament.
He explains that the lack of women on the committee is due to how members are selected, as dictated by Somalia’s Provisional Constitution.
“There are 13 women out of 54 members in the Upper House of Somali Federal Parliament. Only one female senator of the Upper House submitted her candidacy to be on the Committee and was ultimately unsuccessful in obtaining the required votes to secure her nomination. The voting process was fair, transparent and without error.”
He went on to say that the committee must be created in accordance with the parliamentary procedure and that the democratic process must be respected.
“It is important to take serious care in respecting the integrity of Somali democratic processes, especially when issuing written public memoranda on the legitimacy of Somalia’s constitution-building process.
The Joint Parliamentary Constitutional Review Committee is tasked with producing a complete constitution that would replace the 2012 Provisional Constitution ahead of the 2020 general elections.
Somalia’s provisional constitution, which provides the legal foundation for the existence of the Federal Republic and lays out the rights and duties of citizens, was adopted by the National Constitutional Assembly on August 1, 2012.
Below is the letter in full. Click to enlarge
