(Brussels) - Donor governments meeting in Brussels this week should ensure that pledges of assistance to Somali security forces and African Union troops in Somalia will not contribute to human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. All training and material assistance to Transitional Federal Government (TFG) security forces should be accompanied by adequate vetting of personnel and the creation of mechanisms to respond to serious abuses when they occur, said Human Rights Watch.

On April 23, 2009, in Brussels, the United States, the European Union and other key donors will meet with representatives of the TFG and various multilateral institutions, including the African Union and AMISOM (the African Union's military force in Somalia). The primary goal of the conference is to pledge donor support to TFG security forces and AMISOM. Human Rights Watch said that while efforts to bolster security are a justifiable priority, governments promoting them need to recognize that deeply entrenched patterns of impunity for serious abuses have been a primary cause of violence in Somalia over the long term.

"Donors need to focus on improving security for Somali civilians, rather than just for the transitional government," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Since Somalia's security forces have committed so many violent abuses against civilians, efforts to strengthen them also need to make them more accountable."

Somalia has a long history of near-total impunity for serious abuses by all warring factions since the collapse of its last functional government in 1991. Throughout 2007 and 2008, the country was embroiled in a brutal conflict pitting the TFG and its Ethiopian military ally against a broad array of insurgent groups. Every side to that conflict regularly committed serious violations of the laws of war and other abuses, and the absence of accountability fueled a downward spiral of bloodshed and abuse.

That violence, in turn, spawned a humanitarian crisis - 1.2 million Somalis were displaced from their homes as of March 2009, and 3.25 million need humanitarian assistance. Ethiopian forces pulled out in December 2008, but fighting has continued between numerous armed factions, including the TFG security forces.

Recent donor interventions in Somalia's security sector have often exacerbated problems in the country. Beginning in 2007, international donors through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) embarked on training and other assistance for TFG police forces that included direct financial support for police salaries. During that period, the police were widely implicated in serious human rights abuses, including: the indiscriminate killing of civilians during combat operations; arbitrary detention of civilians in Mogadishu to extort ransom payments from victims' families; looting; armed robbery; and murder.

The TFG, then under the leadership of former President Abdullahi Yusuf, took no meaningful action to prevent, investigate, or respond to these abuses. UNDP suspended police stipend payments in 2008, but donor governments did not demand that the TFG investigate or hold those responsible for serious crimes accountable. The UN Monitoring Group on Somalia reported that past donor assistance to the security forces has violated the longstanding UN arms embargo on Somalia - primarily because donors did not bother to seek exemptions.

Earlier this year, the TFG's tenuous grip on power was bolstered after peace talks spearheaded by the special representative of the UN secretary-general for Somalia led to a broader-based government of national unity, headed by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. All major donors continue to make support for the security forces a primary aim. They are hoping that an infusion of support to the new TFG's security forces will help it to gain political traction and restore security in parts of south-central Somalia. Then, perhaps, the longer-term work of building workable government institutions can begin.

"Until now, key donors have adopted a ‘see no evil, hear no evil' approach to serious abuses by TFG security forces they support," said Gagnon. "This conference offers donors the opportunity to chart a better course - but if they fail to do so, it risks entrenching the terrible mistakes of the past two years."

Human Rights Watch urges that, at a minimum, donors meeting in Brussels this Thursday should include on their agenda discussion of the following goals:

Ensure adequate vetting of TFG security forces: Members of the new security forces should be vetted to ensure that they have not been implicated in serious human rights abuses. Donors should support creating an independent vetting mechanism to remove and exclude members of the security forces responsible for serious human rights violations and should condition their support on acceptance of such a mechanism. Vetting should only be carried out by entities whose track records demonstrate the capacity to carry out the exercise in a credible manner.

Fire the police commissioner: TFG Police Commissioner Abdi Qeybdid has been implicated in war crimes and serious human rights abuses, both during and prior to his tenure as commissioner. Under his stewardship, police abuses have been rampant, with no effort to halt abuses or bring those responsible to justice. Removing Qeybdid from his post is a necessary step to demonstrate the TFG's professed commitment to more accountability in the police force.

Ensure that training programs have a solid human rights component: All donor-supported training of security forces should include extensive training in human rights principles and humanitarian law. This training should be carried out by entities whose track records demonstrate the capacity to ensure that the training strengthens respect for human rights principles.

Develop mechanisms to address abuses by TFG security forces and AMISOM: There are currently no effective mechanisms to address violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by TFG security forces and AMISOM personnel. Donor governments should ensure that the TFG and AMISOM develop mechanisms to undertake credible investigations of alleged abuses and ensure accountability. The continued provision of assistance to the TFG security forces and AMISOM alike should be contingent upon good-faith efforts to meet these obligations whenever they arise.

Bolster independent human rights monitoring in Somalia: Donors should support more robust independent investigation of serious abuses by all parties to the armed conflict in Somalia, beginning by increasing the capacity of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to carry out investigations. The UN Political Office for Somalia, which has integrated OHCHR's operations into its own, should permit its human rights unit to make human rights monitoring and reporting its top priority. Such independent monitoring is crucial for donor efforts to track the conduct of the forces they support in Somalia. It would also contribute to broader efforts to monitor, document, and respond to the human rights crisis in Somalia. Human Rights Watch has long advocated that donors also support the creation of a Commission of Inquiry for Somalia under the UN Security Council to map the worst abuses and lay the groundwork for future accountability.

Together, these recommendations represent only a modest first step toward serious efforts at reining in abuse and enhancing the accountability of TFG security forces. The transitional government should embrace these steps if it wishes to show that it is serious about protecting civilians and is fundamentally different from previous failed experiments at transitional government in Somalia.