Media advisories Special Procedures

UN expert returns to Somalia on official visit

07 May 2024

GENEVA (7 May 2024) – The UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, Isha Dyfan, is on her third official visit to the Federal Republic of Somalia until 10 May.

The Independent Expert will engage with Government officials, representatives of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia, UN Support Office in Somalia, UN agencies, as well as key international and regional partners to take stock of the human rights situation.

Dyfan will also hold meetings with human rights defenders and civil society organisations.

The Independent Expert will share her preliminary observations from the mission on Thursday 9 May. Details on time and location will be issued locally.

The expert will present a comprehensive report on her visit to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-seventh session beginning in September 2024 and to the General Assembly at its seventy-ninth session this year.

The expert: Ms. Isha Dyfan (Sierra Leone) was appointed as the Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Somalia by the Human Rights Council in May 2020. Prior to her appointment, she was the Director of International Advocacy at Amnesty International. Before joining Amnesty International in April 2018, she was the Chief of the Human Rights Section in the UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur, Sudan (UNAMID) where she served for four and a half years before retiring at the level of director. She is a Barrister-at-Law and educated in Sierra Leone and the UK where she studied History and Law respectively.

The Independent Experts are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council's independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures' experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

OHCHR country page: Somalia

For more information and media requests, please contact: In Geneva, Sandra Atchekpe, atchekpe@un.org, +41 22 917 8921. In Mogadishu, Ari Gaitanis, gaitanis@un.org, +252 699 988 015

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts, please contact: Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org) or John Newland (john.newland@un.org)

Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts.

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