75. The Government has taken several steps to implement the right to housing. Suitable units are now being constructed as a means of reversing the ever-increasing housing deficit, currently put at around 2,500 per year (the true figure should be known after the upcoming population and housing census). Thus between 2005 and 2008 residential areas have been built at Hodane 1 (842 units), Concorde (90), Gargaar (285), Wadajir 2 - now in the final phase - (75), plus 340 units built to help resettle displaced populations in areas affected by armed conflict.
76. Further examples are Hodane 2 (642 units), Chebelley (200), where the President laid the foundation stones on World Habitat Day, Monday, 2 October 2008, and Doumeira (44), where work is to begin soon.
77. Plots of land are being made available to improve the living environment in response to the increasing demand. Thus, again between 2005 and 2008, the Government created 384 emergency suburban plots, 556 residential plots in the capital and 220 more in Arta (170 residential
and 150 social). This measure also applied to two other regional capitals in the interior, Ali-Sabieh and Tadjourah (100 plots each).
78. Cities in the interior have likewise been provided with suitable housing plots and, as in the capital, with standard designs for progressive housing as a basis for evaluation of low-cost housing projects.
79. A regulatory framework for consistency in land-use planning: regulations have been put in place in parallel with the various measures taken to promote land ownership and security. These take the form of updates to existing rules and the formulation of new rules governing land
distribution and development, and concessions for services; several new laws on the specifications and plans for various developments in Djibouti and the interior; and strengthened procedures of amicable transfer and simplified building permission in order to encourage residents of older neighbourhoods on the Djibouti peninsula (districts 1-7, Ambouli and Djebel) and in Balbala, to seek title to their property.
(b) Outlook
80. To encourage home ownership and land security, the Government proposes to create some 14,000 low-cost housing units, 3,000 progressive housing units and 800 rehabilitated plots across the country between 2008 and 2011, with help from the private sector and foreign investors.
(c) Opportunities and obstacles
81. The development of the right to housing in Djibouti is facilitated by the fact that there is land available, in the sense that it all belongs to the State and is relatively inexpensive, there are
incentives for the less well off (amicable transfer and simpler building permission procedures), and there is the political will and a clear commitment from the Government.
82. Even so, there are considerable obstacles in the way of achieving the hoped-for goal, chief among them the lack of funding at the national and international levels, the inadequacies of the institutional framework (no appropriate financial instruments such as a housing bank offering preferential schemes) and the poor capacity of departments responsible for the housing sector.
C. Advancement and protection of women and children
83. The advancement and protection of women and children are underpinned by unwavering political determination, the work of an emerging women’s civil society, young but dynamic, and the adoption of non-discriminatory legislation. However, the weight of tradition and women’s high illiteracy rates mean that these efforts require support.
84. A Ministry for the Advancement of Women, Family Welfare and Social Affairs has been established to promote equality between men and women, combat gender discrimination and protect women and children. The establishment of gender focal points in government departments has encouraged the incorporation of the gender perspective into sectoral programmes and projects.
85. Djibouti has signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and implemented a major programme to reduce female genital mutilation, which -
notwithstanding the article of the Criminal Code prohibiting and punishing the practice - remains the main form of violence against women. In that context a national strategy has been developed to do away with all forms of excision (2006), a complaints unit has been set up for girls and women victims of violence (2007) and a major community programme for the protection and promotion of women’s rights has been put in place (2007).
86. The adoption of the Personal Status Code in January 2002, which set the age of marriage at 18 for both spouses and established compulsory education up to the age of 16 have helped curb early marriage, a practice that discriminates against girls.
87. With regard to women’s participation in political life, Act No. 192/AN/02/4 L, establishing a quota of at least 10 per cent in elective office and the State administration, made it easier for women to join political parties, facilitated their entry to Parliament in 2003 (7 women deputies out of 65) and 2008 (9 out of 65), and increased their visibility in public life.
88. As to children’s rights, and in particular the right to be registered at birth, the registration rate remains low in rural areas.
89. A bill is under discussion to bring Government closer to the governed by setting up regional assemblies as part of the drive towards decentralization; free registration at birth and a major programme to build capacity in the area of citizenship will boost birth registration rates.
90. Various recommendations were made following consideration of Djibouti’s periodic report on its implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in September 2008. These
included:
(a) Strengthening action to promote the observance and realization of all rights recognized to children under the Convention;
(b) Expediting the establishment of a national mechanism to coordinate activities on children;
(c) Adoption of a national action plan on children addressing all the rights enshrined in the Convention;
(d) Increase in budget allocations for children at the national and local levels;
(e) Establishment of a centralized data collection system to collect data in the areas addressed by the Convention;
(f) Continuation and strengthening of awareness-raising efforts regarding the Convention and children’s rights, especially in rural areas;
(g) Continuation and strengthening of collaboration with civil society on promotion and protection of rights and on national coordination.
Steps will be taken to comply with these recommendations.
91. Street children and begging by children from the unsettled population are new phenomena in Djibouti.
D. Public awareness of human rights
92. Various actors help promote and protect human rights through training, popularization of human rights instruments and human rights awareness-raising campaigns for the general public and the information, communications and media sectors.
93. The National Human Rights Commission was created recently, in April 2008. Its members are drawn from a variety of social and institutional backgrounds: some are from NGOs and trade unions, others are religious or traditional leaders, while still others come from national institutions such as the Office of the Ombudsman and the bar. The Commission’s main objective is to promote and protect human rights and prevent any interference with or violation of those rights.
94. Already, in the few months it has been in existence, it has organized awareness-raising
sessions attended by United Nations officials, notably during Detention Week (6-12 October), when a working visit was made to the civil prison in Djibouti, to sensitize the prison authorities to the notion of justice and dignity for detainees. The Commission also visited the Ali Adde refugee camp, with the same Djiboutian partners, to look into refugees’ situation. Lastly, with the Minister of Justice, the inter-ministerial committee and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), it organized a joint training workshop on the drafting and submission of periodic reports to the treaty bodies and the Human Rights Council, from 11 to 13 October 2008.
95. The Minister of Justice responsible for human rights ran a discussion workshop on the prospects for strengthening human rights in Djibouti from 9 to 10 May. The workshop was
honoured by the presence of the Head of State at the opening ceremony. The President repeated his unwavering commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights. The workshop
formulated a number of recommendations, which became the basis of a national action plan whose first major achievements were the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission and the inter-ministerial committee for the drafting and submission of periodic reports to the treaty bodies and the Human Rights Council. The Ministry of Justice responsible for human rights set up an ad hoc committee for the sixtieth anniversary celebrations of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, comprising NGOs, State and United Nations bodies and the National Human Rights Commission. Human rights awareness-raising and promotion activities have already been scheduled and will culminate in a solemn commemoration of Human Rights Day on 10 December 2008 under the patronage of the President of the Republic.
96. In addition to ratifying the main international human rights instruments, the Ministry of Justice responsible for human rights has incorporated certain provisions of international instruments into domestic law.
97. Djibouti is well behind schedule in the drafting and submission of its periodic reports, but since the establishment of the inter-ministerial committee it has put in place a two-year priority timetable to deal with the backlog and meet its international commitments, with support from the regional office of OHCHR. Moreover, Djiboutian courts comprise equal numbers of men and women judges. The President of the Supreme Court is a woman and there are several women judges in the Personal Status Courts which apply Islamic law in matters of personal status.
III. COOPERATION WITH HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS A. National
98. In order to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights and to address the failure to submit the reports required under the international and regional human rights instruments ratified by Djibouti, a National Human Rights Commission was established in April 2008, bringing together representatives of the State and civil society involved in human rights issues and in action to eliminate all forms of discrimination.
99. The Commission’s task is to alert the authorities to human rights violations, suggest measures to encourage the protection and promotion of human rights and advise the Government on all matters relating to human rights in Djibouti.
100. The Commission helps prepare reports to United Nations bodies and committees and to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and an inter-ministerial committee was set up in September 2008 to coordinate the drafting and submission of periodic reports.
B. Regional
101. Djibouti ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and its Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa in 1991 and 2005 respectively, but has not yet submitted any report on their implementation or that of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The delay was due to technical and human resource problems and should now be rectified following the
establishment of the inter-ministerial committee to coordinate the drafting and submission of periodic reports.
102. Djibouti cooperates on rights and freedoms at the regional level; it attended, for example, the second International Symposium on the Practices of Democracy, Rights and Freedoms in the French-Speaking Community, held in Bamako in November 2005.
103. A peaceful nation, Djibouti has played and continues to play an important part in the peaceful settlement of conflicts in the region - notably the conflict in Somalia - peace being a key factor in the promotion, protection and defence of human rights.
C. International
104. In 2000, following its consideration of Djibouti’s initial report, submitted in 1998, the Committee on the Rights of the Child made certain recommendations, which Djibouti has incorporated into domestic law, as shown in its second report on children’s rights.
105. Djibouti also acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 2002. Reports on implementation will need to be submitted.
106. In accordance with its commitments, Djibouti has begun the process of ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
107. In May 2008 Djibouti hosted a workshop on prospects for strengthening human rights. In addition to its initial report (1998) and its 2008 report on children’s rights, Djibouti intends to submit its initial and second periodic reports on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
IV. ACHIEVEMENTS, BEST PRACTICES, CHALLENGES AND CONSTRAINTS A. Achievements
108. Since 1992 Djibouti has adopted a battery of legislation to foster the protection and
observance of all human rights. Chief among these instruments is the Constitution but a series of laws has also been promulgated.
109. The 1992 Constitution establishes individual and fundamental freedoms and lays the foundations for a fully democratic State:
(a) It endorses the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by proclaiming it an integral part of the preamble;
(b) It establishes a full multiparty system (albeit with a 10-year transitional period, which ended in 2002);
(c) It establishes the separation of powers (executive, legislature and judiciary);
(d) It establishes the right of appeal to the Constitutional Council against any violation of fundamental rights (appeal by objection).
110. Djibouti’s laws are designed as instruments that should make it possible to defend fundamental freedoms. Within that framework, Djibouti has:
(a) Established independent national institutions for the protection and defence of human rights (National Human Rights Commission, Office of the Ombudsman, Higher Council of the Judiciary, among others);
(b) Enacted a law on decentralization;
(c) Enacted legislation to protect vulnerable groups, including a law protecting people living with HIV/AIDS;
(d) Established an inter-ministerial committee to draft reports to treaty bodies;
(e) Ratified most of the conventions on the defence and protection of human rights.