Constitutional Provisions
Article 13 of the 2012 Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia provides that: "Everyone has the right to life." Article 15(2) stipulates that:
Every person has the right to personal security, and this includes: the prohibition of illegal detention, all forms of violence, including any form of violence against women, torture, or inhumane treatment.
Article 20 governs "Freedom of Assembly, Demonstration, Protest, and Petition":
(1) Every person has the right to organize and participate in meetings, and to demonstrate and protest peacefully, without requiring prior authorization.
Article 126 governs the Somali police forces:
(4) The federal police force has the mandate to protect the lives and property, the peace and security of the citizens and other residents of the Federal Republic of Somalia.
(5) The police forces established by the laws of the Federal Member States have the mandate to protect lives and property and preserve peace and security locally, alone or in cooperation with the federal police force.
Treaty Adherence
Global Treaties
| 1966 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) | State Party |
| ICCPR Optional Protocol 1 | State Party |
| 1984 Convention against Torture (CAT) | State Party |
| Competence of CAT Committee to receive individual complaints | No |
| CAT Optional Protocol 1 | Not party |
| 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court | Not party |
Regional Treaties
| 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights | State Party |
| 1998 Protocol to the African Charter on the African Court | Signatory |
| Article 34(6) declaration regarding individual petitions | N/A |
| Malabo Protocol on the African Court of Justice and Human Rights | Not party |
National Legislation
Police Use of Force
The Somalia Police Force is the nation's main federal law enforcement agency. There does not appear to be national legislation governing its use of force and firearms. In its 2020 List of Issues for reporting by Somalia on its implementation of the ICCPR, the Human Rights Committee asked for details regarding the legal standard applied in Somalia "for appropriate uses of force and firearms by law enforcement officials and the source of that standard in domestic law". The Committee also asked about the steps Somalia has taken "to ensure that such standards are respected by law enforcement and security personnel in practice".
UNSOM Police (the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia) provides strategic advice to the Somali government at the federal and state levels with a view to establishing and strengthening capable, accountable, and rights-based police services. The Joint Policing Programme (JPP) has committed oversee the development of a legal framework and accountability for policing.
Certain provisions of the 1962 Penal Code relate to the conduct of a public officer, including by permitting the use of firearms to avoid the escape of a person lawfully arrested or detained, which is more permissive than international law allows.Art. 35, Penal Code (1962).
Police Oversight
In its concluding observations in 2024, the Committee against Torture took "note of the establishment by the authorities of the Police Oversight Committee to investigate abuses, including torture, committed by police officers and investigators". The Committee regretted, however, that Somalia
could not provide answers to its questions on the conditions needed for the Police Oversight Committee to launch investigations into cases of torture, the number of cases investigated, the human and budgetary resources allocated to Police Oversight Committee and the way its mandate is coordinated with that of the Attorney General.
Caselaw
Global
Views and Concluding Observations of United Nations Treaty Bodies
In its 2024 Concluding Observations, the Human Rights Committee was "gravely concerned by reports, and many specific incidents, of excessive use of force and killing of civilians by members of the armed forces, law enforcement, and Al-Shabaab and other terrorist groups". The Committee was also concerned about the compatibility of the State party’s laws on the use of force and firearms with international standards "and the application, in practice, of articles 32 and 33 of the Code of Military Criminal Law, which allows for exceptions to the prosecution of law enforcement officers".
The Committee called on the Somali government to ensure that
all legislative and regulatory provisions governing the use of force are in line with the United Nations Human Rights Guidance on Less-Lethal Weapons in Law Enforcement, the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials and the Committee’s general comment No. 36 (2018), which establish a requirement that law enforcement officers use lethal force only when strictly necessary in order to protect life or prevent serious injury from an imminent threat.
The Committee was also gravely concerned about "allegations of police brutality against, and harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrests and even killings of, human rights defenders, media workers and journalists, including an alarming number of attacks against women journalists, by State actors and Al-Shabaab forces".
In its concluding observations the same year, the Committee against Torture was "concerned about the continuing reports of police brutality and excessive use of force, threats, harassment and arbitrary arrests, especially against those suspected of having committed terrorist acts, human rights defenders and journalists".
Regional
Somalia has not ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, allowing the African Court to hear cases alleging a violation of the Charter by the State.