Wednesday June 17, 2020
Maryan Hasasn - via Twitter
Mogadishu (HOL) - Somalia's Chief Negotiator to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has abruptly resigned after two years on the job on Monday, tendering her resignation to the President.
Maryan Hassan's departure from the post will be a blow as Somalia works on ascending to the WTO as a member state.
Ms Hassan is an accomplished lawyer and legal scholar who worked at the International Arbitration Practice of Al Tamimi & Co, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Somali Mission to the UN in New York. Maryan has advised the Office of the Attorney General of the Federal Republic of Somalia on the transfer of Somali prisoners held in custody in various Indian Ocean Island States on piracy charges.
Ms Hassan is a member of the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) panels of arbitrators and conciliators. She also co-founded Somalia's Arbitration Task Force alongside Gary Born. She was recognized for her work in this field by being shortlisted for 'Best Development' in GAR's 2017 awards.
Since 2019, Maryan has been an Obama Foundation Leader, and more recently she joined the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law as a Brandon Research Fellow. She's also worked on the 'TrialWatch' initiative with the Clooney Foundation for Justice. She leads law Students and junior lawyers from the Somali Bar Association (SBA) to monitor and respond to trials that pose a high risk of human rights violations. She was invited to work on the initiative by Mrs Amal Clooney, one of the foundation's founders.
Prior to Chief Negotiator for WTO Accession at the Office of the President, Maryan Hassan was the Chief Legal Adviser to the Prime Minister from Jan 2016 to July 2018.
She said at a WTO conference that she decided to start working in Somalia to thwart greedy foreign investors who were eager to exploit Somalia.
"I got started in Somalia because of the issue with investors. At the time, I was working in Dubai as an international arbitration lawyer, and I was assisting the Attorney General. We found that a lot of investors were coming in and taking advantage of the fragile institutions that existed in Somalia — this is a similar reality faced by most post-conflict countries. These investors wanted to have investments in Somalia without having the proper recourse for our people. I moved myself to Somalia, thinking that I would be able to help, and I have been able to, because without proper arbitration clauses for example, in our agreements there is no protection for our actual traders."
Hassan joins Yussur Abrar in being the second high-profile Somali official to resign from the Federal Government citing interference in their work. Abrar, Somalia's central bank governor from September to November 2013, resigned less than two months into the post after she was pressured to authorize improper deals. Her departure deeply embarrassed the federal government, which was struggling to battle graft and corruption within its ranks.