ReliefWeb

I. Executive Summary

This document supersedes previous country guidance published by UNHCR on Somalia, including, most recently, the May 2016 UNHCR Position on Returns to Southern and Central Somalia (Update I).1 It is issued against a background of continuing concerns about the security situation in the country and widespread human rights abuses. It contains information on particular profiles of persons for whom international protection needs may arise in the current context in Somalia.

This document includes the most up-to-date information available at the time of writing, from a wide variety of sources.2 The analysis contained in this document is informed by publicly available information and by information collected and obtained by UNHCR in the course of its operations in Somalia and elsewhere, as well as by other United Nations (UN) agencies and partner organizations.

All claims lodged by asylum-seekers need to be considered on their own merits according to fair and efficient status determination procedures and up-to-date and relevant country of origin information. This applies whether the claims are analysed on the basis of the refugee criteria contained in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (“1951 Convention”)3 and its 1967 Protocol,4 UNHCR’s mandate, regional refugee instruments, or on the basis of broader international protection criteria, including complementary forms of protection.