Hargeisa- Human Rights Centre, a nongovernmental organization based in Somaliland, today launched a nationwide campaign to collect signatures demanding police reform and end of police impunity.

According to a press statement issued by Human Rights Centre, the petition calls on the President of Somaliland, H.E. Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud, "to reform the Police of Somaliland; to subject the police to the jurisdiction of the civilian courts; to pass laws and procedures makingthe Police accountable; and to reform the organization of the Police and restructure it to make it compatible with the Constitution of Somaliland in order to eradicate the Police practices inherited from the military government of Siad Barre”.

"It is vital to reform the police. The Police enjoy impunity, and there is no mechanism to oversight the institution,” says Guleid Ahmed Jama, the chairperson of Human Rights Centre.

"We want the government to reform the police and set a higher standard by making it accountable. The absence of a Police Act worsens the situation. The President vetoed in 2014 a Police Bill that made the Police subject to the civilian courts. The current structure of the Police was inherited from the military government of 1969 to 1991. It is a militarized institution. It abuses human rights,” he adds.

The collection of signatures started today from Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, says Guleid Ahmed Jama,