Thousands flocked to online petition addressed to Somalia’s President, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo, and Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire to Stop attacks on journalists and other trade unionists.
More 5600 journalists and trade unionists around the world electrically and directly petitioned to two national leaders “to direct the Federal Government of Somalia to abide by the international rule of law by fully accepting and implementing in good faith ILO decisions on case 3113 of Somalia as approved by 328th Session of the ILO Governing Body, and end the attacks on the rights of the member journalists and leaders of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ).”
Exercising constitutional right, NUSOJ in cooperation with the global trade union movement set this campaign in motion on 18 April 2017 in line with article 20 of Somalia’s provisional constitution.
For several years, trade unions have bitterly resisted unprincipled, unfair and unjustified attacks by anti-trade union government officials, branding them an assault on fundamental human rights of freedoms of association, assembly and expression.
“It is not just enough for the laws and ratifications of international conventions to just look good on paper; they must be consistently enforced, particularly constitutional rights and international human rights instruments that Somalia endorsed”, said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General.
NUSOJ has implored decisive action from the leaders of the federal government against anti-trade union officials who believe that they have unfettered power to curtail human rights of journalists and other trade unions with impunity.
“We are committed to battle the nasty unconstitutional actions by anti-trade union elements with every ounce of our strength. Trade union rights are human rights. And we are simply demanding the government to vigorously safeguard basic human rights and confront impunity regardless of the profile of the perpetrator”, added Osman.