Child Protection

When you meet 10-year-old Sumayo*, you cannot even begin to comprehend the kind of suffering she has gone through at her tender age.  Although she tries to put a smile on her face, she will never forget the summer of June 2018.  She recalls how the long-awaited holiday turned into a nightmare. It was during this time that Sumayo and her sister were circumcised—or to put it plainly; their private parts were mutilated.

By Jamillah Mwanjisi

Head of Advocacy, Campaigns and Communications and Media

Since I joined Save the Children, Somalia/Somaliland Country office, I have heard so much about the prevalence of child marriage in the country.  However all I heard have been stories and statistics until when I met Muna*— a 16 year old girl from Hargeisa who personalized the problem for me. Muna* was married at 13 and got divorced in less than six months after her marriage.   

Nimo* (not her real name) is a fifteen year-old bright and well-spoken young lady, a pupil at a local school in Baidoa, South West State of Somalia. Roughly 356 boys and 359 girls attend this school. Save the Children supports the school to cater for children who drop out of school due to early marriage, often times arranged by their parents and/or guardians against their will.

In a bustling street in camp shabelle, 40-year old Bullo Rasas, is selling tea and pancakes in a small cafeteria. She is a mother of six children and lives in a settlement for Internally Displaced People (IDP) in Bossaso.

Save the Children launched the “End War on Children” report globally. The report that ranks Somalia as the third most dangerous place for a child looks at how conflict has impacted children, and sheds light on a worrying trend of increased brutality against children in conflict, particularly in the last few years.