Document #1023577
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Specific information on the above-mentioned
subjects is scarce among the sources consulted by the DIRB.
However, brief references to the situation
in Gedo and the Marehan can be found in Somalia Faces the
Future: Human Rights in a Fragmented Society, which is
available in Regional Documentation Centres (Apr. 1995, 34-36).
As well, a recent letter sent to the DIRB
on the subject of Somali repatriation may be of interest; the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) states
that
The fact of voluntary repatriation to
Somalia does not automatically mean that there is an absence of
risk or persecution, nor safety upon return. It would be incorrect
to view or construe the fact of repatriation as amounting to the
safety or stability of the region, or to use it as the basis or
justification for the rejection of asylum claims, or to forcibly
return asylum seekers there (10 May 1995).
The UNHCR states that "caution must be
exercised in inferring an internal flight alternative based on
voluntary repatriation statistics (which numbers do not distinguish
gender, or clan affiliations of returnees) ... especially, as often
times for Somali asylum-seekers, persecution emanates from rival
clan members" (ibid).
For general information regarding the
situation in southern Somalia, please consult the recently
published paper Victims and Vulnerable Groups in Southern
Somalia, which is available at Regional Documentation
Centres.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of
sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
Human Rights Watch Africa. April 1995.
Vol. 7. No. 2. Somalia Faces the Future: Human Rights in a
Fragmented Society. New York: Human Rights Watch.
United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), Ottawa. 10 May 1995. Letter sent to the DIRB.
Africa Confidential [London].
Africa Research Bulletin: Political,
Social and Cultural Series [Oxford].
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
(FBIS) Reports.
The Horn of Africa Bulletin
[Uppsala].
The Indian Ocean Newsletter
[Paris].
Jeune Afrique [Paris].
New African [London].
HCRViews information database.
On-line searches of news articles.