GENEVA – The UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, Isha Dyfan, will conduct an official visit to the Federal Republic of Somalia from 6 to 19 November 2023.
This will be the second visit by the UN expert since she was appointed in May 2020.
The expert will visit the capital, Mogadishu, and two Federal Member States to assess the human rights situation, including efforts to identify, prevent and address human rights violations. She will hold discussions with senior Government officials, representatives of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), UN Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS), the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), UN agencies and civil society representatives. She will also meet with victims of human rights violations, including IDPs, detainees and other groups.
At the end of her mission, Dyfan will share her preliminary observations at a press conference in the UN compound, Mogadishu. Details will be shared in due course and access will be strictly limited to journalists.
The expert will present a comprehensive report on her visit to the Human Rights Council in October 2024.
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.
Source: UN
