Somalia: Constitutional Proposals Put Children At Risk

's parliament should reject any proposed constitutional amendments that would weaken rights protections for children, Human Rights Watch said today.

Under Somalia's provisional constitution, a child is defined as a person under the age of 18. The proposed amendment states that the term child"refers to a person under the age of 15 years of maturity while the age of responsibility is 18 years, as defined in the law of the Federal Republic of Somalia.

Somalia's provisional constitution is ambiguous with respect to female genital mutilation. It states that:"Female circumcision is a cruel and degrading customary practice and is tantamount to torture. The circumcision of girls is prohibited." However, the provision does not define female circumcision, which may or may not be interpreted to mean the same thing as female genital mutilation.

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