About 55% of the Somali population is believed to be rural community and their participation in the country’s matters is limited and have no say in the country’s political process as well as the processes of development of plans or policies affecting them. The marginalisation of rural community in participation will be a big challenge and will a setback for initiatives of cutting poverty rate.
On May 5, 2019, Bareedo Platform, in partnership with the Refugees Affairs Department (RAD), organized an impactful awareness-raising and advocacy campaign at Reception Center One in Bosaso, Puntland. The session brought together local authorities, migration officials, and migrant community leaders to discuss the urgent realities faced by over 30,000 migrants living in Puntland—most of whom are from Ethiopia.
The event focused on promoting migrants’ rights, safe migration practices, and enhancing collaboration between communities and institutions. Government actors such as RAD and the Migration Response Center (MRC) shared information on the support services available to migrants, while community representatives voiced pressing concerns about legal status, exploitation, and lack of access to justice.
Voices from the Field: Presentations and Perspectives
Mr. Burhan Huruse Hashi, Director of RAD, clarified the different categories of people on the move—migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers—and explained the tailored support systems available to each. He highlighted the government’s partnership with UNHCR in providing reception, legal aid, healthcare, education, and psychosocial support for refugees, while also noting that 60% of registered migrants in Puntland are Ethiopian nationals.
Mr. Barkhad Hamud from MRC Bosaso elaborated on the services provided to migrants, including registration, legal support, protection for survivors of gender-based violence, and referrals for trafficked or exploited individuals. The MRC collaborates with organizations like IOM, UNHCR, and DRC to ensure migrants receive holistic care.
Mr. Abdikareem Guled of Bareedo Platform emphasized the organization’s advocacy for inclusive migration policies, safe migration awareness, and capacity-building for duty bearers. He reiterated Bareedo’s role in monitoring mixed migration flows and supporting migrant-responsive service delivery.
Perhaps most powerfully, Ms. Yasmin Salah, a representative of the migrant community, gave voice to the daily struggles of migrants in Bosaso. She spoke of poor living conditions, lack of legal documentation, wage exploitation, and arbitrary detention—urging stakeholders to take immediate, rights-based action.
The Issues Are Clear. The Action Must Be Collective
Key issues raised during the session included:
What Needs to Be Done: Recommendations from the Field
The report concluded with eight concrete action points, including:
A Shared Responsibility for Dignity and Rights
The Bosaso campaign session reaffirmed that ensuring migrant dignity, protection, and inclusion is a shared responsibility. The voices of migrants—especially women, exploited workers, and those in detention—must not be overlooked. With collective action from government, civil society, and international partners, Puntland can take meaningful steps toward a rights-based migration framework.
Bareedo Platform remains committed to championing migrant rights, amplifying community voices, and bridging gaps between policy and practice.
#MigrantsRights #SafeMigration #Puntland #Bosaso #Refugees #HumanRights #BareedoPlatform
📌 For more information or to collaborate, contact: info@bareedo.org
Bareedo Platform Somalia supported the Department of Refugees, Returnees and Mixed Migrants (DRRMM) under the Ministry of Interior of Puntland, in development and designing of a set of comprehensive tools and operational procedures for managing mixed migration. This support and technical assistance significantly strengthened the department’s institutional capacity to monitor and respond to complex and evolving migration flows across the region. Bareedo Platform also contributed to enhancing the technical skills of both frontline and central staff in critical areas such as data collection, entry, analysis, and reporting.
As a result of this technical assistance, DRRMM began producing monthly, quarterly, and annual mixed migration movement reports, based on data collected from key entry points—including Tukaraq, Dhahar, and Alxamdulilah—and exit points such as Bosaso, Ceelaayo, and Mareero in Puntland, Somalia. These data outputs have played a crucial role in supporting evidence-based planning, policy-making, and protection programming.
Accurate and timely data production plays a critical role in shaping effective responses to mixed migration. In dynamic contexts like Puntland—where migration flows are driven by a complex mix of conflict, economic hardship, environmental factors, and cross-border mobility—producing, managing, and analyzing migration data is essential for government authorities, humanitarian actors, and development partners.
In summary, data production is not just a technical activity—it is a foundational pillar of effective, humane, and rights-based migration governance. Investments in data systems, capacity building, and information-sharing mechanisms—like those supported by Bareedo Platform and DRRMM—are essential to ensure that migration in Puntland is managed responsibly, inclusively, and in the best interest of both migrants and host communities.
FIVE YEARS SINCE AL-SHABAB BANNED THE USE OF INTERNET IN SOUTH CENTRAL SOMALIA
Author By│Abdikhayr M. Hussein
It is five years since Somali rebel group al-Shabab banned the use of internet through mobile handsets and fibre optic cables throughout Somalia. The ban has been effective in the areas controlled by Al-Shabab in the South Central Somalia where the group has an active presence.
This has unfortunate repercussions for economic, education and technology growth in the areas controlled by Al-Shabab. While the people in the other regions of Somalia has internet connection and use over their phones, Al-Shabab cut off areas under their control from the rest of the country and the world and reducing them to silence. By preventing the public from using the Internet in the areas it controls, Al-Shabaab is launching an unprecedented offensive against freedom of information and there is little progress on lifting these restrictions.
There are several fibre optics cables in Somalia, but in the South Central Somalia where Al-Shabab has presence, has only one cable that is limited to Mogadishu. As Al-Shabab has been losing ground to Somalia’s internationally recognised government troops and African Union peacekeepers, there is little progress on easing restrictions on the internet in the liberated areas.
The Internet offers unprecedented opportunities for the realisation of human rights, and plays an increasingly important role in our everyday lives. It is essential that all actors respect and protect human rights on the Internet. Therefore, I urge Al-Shabaab to lift this ban at once and that the Internet Providers ease such restrictions in the areas liberated by the Somalia’s internationally recognised government troops and African Union peacekeepers.
Article Contributor: Abdikhayr M. Hussein
Bareedo Platform Somalia successfully conducted a targeted capacity-building training for staff of the Department of Refugees, Returnees, and Mixed Migrants under the Ministry of Interior of Puntland.
This is part of part of Bareedo Platform’s ongoing commitment to advancing safe migration practices and institutional capacity in Puntland.
The two-day training, held from November 5 to 6, 2015, in Bosaso, Puntland, brought together 29 key staff members from across the migration monitoring spectrum. These included:
Facilitated by an expert from Bareedo Platform, the sessions provided intensive technical instruction focused on enhancing participants’ competencies in data collection, data entry, migration flow analysis, and accurate reporting. Emphasis was placed on ensuring consistency, reliability, and timeliness in migration-related information management.
This training is part of a broader initiative by Bareedo Platform to strengthen the institutional foundations of Puntland’s mixed migration monitoring system, equipping relevant departments with the tools, skills, and methodologies required for effective decision-making and protection programming.
By investing in the human capital behind migration monitoring, Bareedo Platform has not only improved day-to-day operations but also contributed to the regular and systematic production of reliable migration flow data across Puntland. This data plays a crucial role in informing humanitarian responses, policy development, and regional coordination on migration governance.
Bareedo Platform remains committed to supporting the Government of Puntland and its key agencies in building a migration system that is transparent, rights-based, and responsive to the complex realities facing both host and migrant communities in the Horn of Africa.
