From 1994 until 2020, intermittent deadly incidents, including the use of attack drones and heavy weaponry on the front lines and activities of special operations forces, demonstrated the ever-present risk that war would reignite. In April 2016, four days of intense fighting at the line of separation shook the region, killed hundreds on both sides, and foreshadowed what was to come.

The dam broke in September 2020, and full-fledged war resumed on the 27th of that month. Six weeks of bloody armed conflict finally ended in the early hours of 10 November with a ceasefire brokered by the Russian Federation. Although the deal fell short of a clear and stable peace, it brought an end to the deadliest fighting the region had witnessed in nearly three decades with over 7,000 military and about 170 civilians killed and many more wounded. Under the agreement, Azerbaijan now again controls in full the seven districts adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh that Armenian forces had held since the previous war. It also holds a substantial part of Nagorno-Karabakh itself. The rest is patrolled by a Russian peacekeeping force but still governed by self-proclaimed local authorities.  

This Visual Explainer has been designed as a resource for those seeking to understand this conflict. It is also intended as a tool for policymakers and others involved in the peace process or in mitigating the conflict’s humanitarian impact. It includes sections that explain the current state of the conflict along with some parts that describe the situation before the 2020 war:

• Regularly updated maps and graphs depicting the evolving situation since the end of hostilities in November 2020.
   
• A timeline tracking critical political events from the beginning of 2015 to the present.
   
• Historical graphics that track incidents and casualties between January 2015 and the day before the start of the second war on 27 September 2020. This section includes a brief discussion of the April 2016 escalation, which is not, however, included in the data tracking.
   
• A methodology and terminology section that includes datasets used to generate the timeline, graphs and interactive maps.

Click on source for opening the interactive maps.

6.6 million people face acute food insecurity

40,000 people face catastrophic hunger

1.8 million children face acute malnutrition

Click on source to explore What the World Food Programme is doing to respond to the Somalia emergency

Somalia’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has consistently been ranked among the five lowest in the world throughout the last decade and in 2020 it was the second lowest in the world. In 2019, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated the labour force participation of men (15-64) to be 73.6% while women’s (15-64) labour force participation rate was estimated to be 23.1% with the figures remaining relatively unchanged over the past 10 years. Agriculture remains the biggest employer of both men and women at 79.2% and 83.9% of the labour force respectively.

Over the past two decades, Somalia has experienced a raging civil war, a rise in violent extremism and a devastating humanitarian crisis, which resulted in weak  institutional and bureaucratic infrastructure and has greatly damaged social cohesion and unity.  For decades, conflict, insecurity and natural disasters such as droughts, cyclones, floods, desert locust and COVID-19 have made Somalia a difficult and volatile humanitarian crisis. Somalia has one of the largest populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world, with displacement driven by the conflict with al-Shabab, fear of violence, drought, lack of livelihood opportunities and evictions.  A total of 7.7 million Somali women, men, and children are estimated to require humanitarian assistance in 2022.

Life for women and girls in Somalia is challenging. Somalia ranks fourth lowest for gender equality globally, maternal and infant mortality rates are some of the highest in the world, and early marriage is prevalent. The Somalia Health and Demographic Survey (SHDS) shows that Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) in women aged 15–49 is high, at 99.2%which has both short-term and long-term physiological, sexual and psychological repercussions.   Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is one of the most prevalent human rights violations faced by people, particularly women, all around the globe. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, women, and girls have faced an even greater risk of SGBV.  To address some of the challenges, in 2018, the Federal Parliament introduced the comprehensive Sexual Offences Bill (SOB), which if approved during the 11th Parliament, would offer greater protection for the victims of sexual violence and would represent a significant step toward ending the culture of impunity as it relates to GBV in Somalia.  

In the Somali context, exclusionary politics has been a historic driver of conflict. Given the male-dominated clan system and the absence of a systematic approach to promote inclusivity, Somali women largely remain excluded from key political and decision-making processes, despite the complex they continue to play in conflict, peace, and security.  They continue to remain underrepresented within national and regional decision and making policy-making bodies. Gender imbalance in political participation, in leadership and decision-making, is a threat to sustained peace and development. Despite commitments to 30% quota for women in the 11th Parliamentary elections (2021-2022), the women’s representation stands low at 20% in House of the People, which is lower than the 2016 figure of 24%.  There were some gains made with 26% seats for women in Upper House in 11th Parliament in comparison to 24% in 10th Parliament.

Despite the positive trajectory towards stability, there continue to be numerous attacks in both urban and rural areas, carried out by militant groups in Somalia. The limited capacities at all levels of government to provide for the security, protection, social, environmental, and economic needs of the population specifically women pose an additional challenge to the promotion of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE) in Somalia.

Other aspects of the challenges that women face in accessing justice are the Somali culture, which restricts women to the home and family sphere; differing interpretations of judicial regimes, like sharia, secular and customary law; and the absence of women within the judicial system.  Out of a total of 295 judges there exist 2 female judges and out of a total of 65 prosecutors  14 female prosecutors as of 2021 calling for attention for gender parity.

Our programmes

UN Women works towards making the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on the following UNCF strategic priorities:

Functional, inclusive, accountable, and transparent democratic systems across all levels of government and governmental institutions

All Somalis Particularly Women Live in a Peaceful, Inclusive, and Cohesive Society

Security And Rule Of Law

Economic Development  and Social Development

Strategic Partnerships

The Ministry of Women and Human Rights Development (MoWHRD) at the Federal and Federal Member States is the key partner of UN Women Somalia Program.  UN Women also works with other ministries and institutions including the Ministry of Justice, Religious Affairs and Endowment, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, Office of the Attorney-General, Ministry of Interior and National Security, Parliament, Independent Electoral Commission among others.  UN Women also works closely with the Civil Society Organizations, NGOs, youth organizations, women led organizations, clan elders, religious leaders.

Key donors that support the UN Women program in Somalia include: The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Government of Japan, Peace Building Fund (PBF), MPTF through EU, Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark.  In parallel, UN Women will also explore new partnerships with bilateral, private sector and regional donors.

Many plans are currently in place by this governmental organization to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and stifle the effects of climate change. Long-term efficacy is unknown as this point but the need for change is being shouted by current world leaders.

____________________________________________________________________________

The ocean and climate change are closely intertwined: the ocean and its ecosystems are essential to regulate the climate and are at the same time hugely impacted by climate change. Ocean and climate actions must therefore go hand in hand.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) raised the alarm on the impacts of climate change on the ocean. It emphasised the need to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions and take sustained and robust adaptation action.

The EU has anchored climate neutrality by 2050 into its law, in line with the Paris Agreement, and is committed to reduce its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from maritime activities and to make continued progress in climate adaptation. The European Commission proposed a range of measures to ensure that EU maritime transport contributes to reaching this goal.

In a similar vein, the EU will continue to act on decarbonising the fishing sector to reduce also the dependency on fossil (primarily diesel) fuels, including by exploring mitigation measures and fishing strategies and gears that reduce emissions and improve energy use efficiency.

The EU considers that offshore wind and ocean energy is part of the solution for achieving its goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050, in line with the EU strategy on offshore renewable energy.

Nature-based solutions can also provide climate change mitigation and adaptation by increasing carbon uptake and storage.

The EU is committed to stopping pollution of all kinds, notably from land-based sources to sea. Since the adoption of its plastics strategy (2018), the EU has been a driving force in tackling plastic pollution worldwide. It is actively engaged in the global negotiations for an ambitious legally binding Global Plastic Agreement by 2024, as agreed at UNEA5. It is also determined to drastically reduce land-based pollution of nutrients and chemical pesticides, and to take decisive steps outlined in the EU zero pollution action plan.

The EU is scaling up its efforts to tackle problems with flag states acting as ‘open registers’, chosen by some vessel operators to take advantage of certain states’ weak compliance with international obligations or control over the vessels (fishing and maritime transport) registered under their flags.

In line with its blue economy approach, the EU will seek to promote economic growth, improve livelihoods while ensuring sustainable use of marine resources and the well-being of coastal communities.

In addition, seafood brings an important contribution to food and nutrition security. As the world’s largest import market for seafood products, the EU is striding towards safeguarding market entry only for products that are sustainably sourced and produced.

In line with the Farm-to-Fork Strategy, the Commission will make a legislative proposal for a sustainable food systems framework to mainstream sustainability in all food-related policies.

The steadily increasing demand for use of the ocean requires integrated planning of maritime space that takes due account of the interests of all maritime sectors and their impact on the marine environment. The EU has gained significant experience in the maritime spatial planning (MSP) domain and is working together with IOC-UNESCO in promoting it internationally through the MSP global Initiative.  Using MSP promotes transboundary cooperation and helps minimise spatial conflicts and manage cumulative impacts worldwide.